


Fear

by Transformersfan123



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Accidental Death, Amy - Freeform, Ancient Evil, Brotherhood, Chaos Emeralds, Dark Past, Dr. Eggman - Freeform, Dr. Robotnik - Freeform, Eggman - Freeform, Emotional Manipulation, Fear, Friendship, Gen, Honesty, Manipulation, Master Emerald, Mind Manipulation, Mind Meld, Monster - Freeform, Pain, Rouge - Freeform, Rouge the Bat - Freeform, Shadow - Freeform, Shame, Sonic - Freeform, Tails, Team Bonding, Tikal - Freeform, Truth, Understanding, accidental magic, bond, emeralds, fight, knuckles - Freeform, omega - Freeform, painful memories, surprise magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 08:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13360647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Transformersfan123/pseuds/Transformersfan123
Summary: Sonic has done something. Something terrible. He fears nobody would understand. But that isn't the case. Two others have already come to terms with what they did, and they are encouraged to bring Sonic comfort, too. But their fears will be turned in upon themselves by something evil. What has Eggman unleashed? Is there any way to go back? Is there anyway to destroy the new link?





	1. You Wouldn't Understand

Sonic shivered as the words played in his head.

_"I will never be like you, Shadow!"_

He lay on his bed, miserably staring at the ceiling. He was like Shadow now. Filthy, filthy Shadow. Sonic shivered again, but the tears wouldn't come. No matter how much he hurt, they wouldn't come. He felt empty. There was a knock on the door and Sonic put on his façade, going over to open it. Knuckles stood there, staring steadily at him.

"Hey, Knux! What's up? Did Eggman steal the Master Emerald again?" Sonic asked, eager to have a distraction from the crushing guilt and pain.

"Eggman, no. But the Master Emerald wants to see you."

"The Master Emerald…wants to see me?" Sonic asked slowly. "I didn't know an emerald could want anything."

"The Master Emerald is special, Sonic, you know that."

"Yes, because you say it's special. But you never say how special."

"She says it's time for you to know."

 _"She_?"

"Just come to Angel Island, Sonic."

"How far do we have to travel?"

"Forty miles or so. That way."

"Alright. Let's go see the Master Emerald then!"

Sonic began to run at a moderate pace that Knuckles could keep up with. Sonic didn't believe that the Master Emerald wanted to see him. He didn't believe it was a she. Knuckles clearly wanted his help with something, and he was much too proud to admit it. Yeah, that sounded about right.

It only took half an hour for them to get there. They stopped beneath the edge of the island and Sonic looked at Knuckles.

"What now? We don't have a plane."

Knuckles stared at him. "How do you think I get up and down?"

"I don't know. Never did figure that one out."

Knuckles folded his gloved hands together and knelt down. Suddenly, green light enveloped them and Sonic found himself staring at the Master Emerald. Knuckles stood and nodded at the green jewel. Sonic blinked.

"How did you do that?"

"It listens to prayers. I am a guardian; therefore, it listens well to me. Respect is key, though. It is a very powerful relic, after all. It listened to hers, and now she is trapped with Chaos."

"What?"

Knuckles stared. "Not until you talk about what's bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me," Sonic said defensively.

"I checked around for two days. You've basically disappeared. Even Tails hasn't seen you around very much. Everybody's concerned about you, but you act 'normally' every time somebody comes to see you, then you go back to hiding. You're upset about something. And since you don't worry about _anything_ , I know it's something big."

Sonic couldn't find the right words, so he shrugged and stared at the green gem. It was quite alluring today. He wanted to touch it, but he had learned the hard way that Knuckles wouldn't allow him to. He had never shown how bruised and sore he'd been, but Knuckles hit like a bullet train going along at full speed crashing into a wall. Even with his high level of pain tolerance and his super durability, Sonic had hurt for a week when he'd dared to touch the Master Emerald the only time he hadn't been saving it.

"Hungry?" Knuckles asked.

"Starved," Sonic said with a smile; he wasn't really, but he should have been as he hadn't felt the urge to eat in four days.

"Do you care what you eat?"

"Not really."

Knuckles again knelt down and folded his hands. Food appeared on the ground before them. There was quite a bit. Sonic sat down and grabbed a slice of pizza. The first bite made his stomach scream at him and he greedily began eating anything he could get his hands on. Luckily there was a large plate of chili dogs. He polished them off easily. When he was full for the first time in a month, he took a large mouthful of a strange drink, swallowing and sighing. When he looked back up, he froze. There was not one, but _two_ sets of eyes staring at him.

"Sh-Shadow?" Sonic asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"She said I needed to be here."

"She?"

Shadow pointed at the Master Emerald.

" _It's_ an emerald. It can't want, it can't talk."

"Says the hedgehog who just ate food conjured by the emerald," Knuckles snickered.

"Food is one thing, sentience is another."

Knuckles snorted. "You need a lesson, Sonic. You sound like Shadow did."

"I wasn't as skeptical. I do have the Chaos Emeralds to compare it to. Sonic's never connected deep enough to feel it," Shadow said quietly.

"He will have once M.E. and Tikal get done with him," the echidna said with a nod.

"What are you two talking about?" Sonic demanded irritably.

"I'm going to let you do something, Sonic. Something you've never been allowed to do outside of necessity," Knuckles replied.

"What?"

"Touch the Master Emerald."

Sonic blinked. "You're joking, right?"

"No, Sonic. I'm not joking. But you'll have to take off your shoes and your gloves."

Sonic balked. Now while they didn't all wear clothing like humans, all of their kind wore gloves and shoes. It was considered super personal to take them off in front of others. And now Knuckles, the one who was constantly telling him how they weren't friends, was asking him to do so, and with Shadow, the hedgehog who was definitely not his friend, watching.

"What do you take me for?"

"Just do it, Sonic."

"No! Why should I do it when you don't?"

"Who said we weren't going to do it, too?" Shadow asked.

"You…you will?" Sonic asked, analyzing them as they nodded. "Fine."

Sonic pulled his knees up and began to remove his shoes. He rarely took them off, even when he slept. The feeling of air hitting his feet, which were sensitive because they were never bare, made him shiver. He looked hesitantly at his gloves. His hands were extremely sensitive, too, without the thick material covering them. He swallowed then slid them off, setting them beside his shoes. The only person he'd ever taken his gloves and shoes off for was Tails, and that was only when he was hurt.

"You don't do this often, do you?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic looked up, shaking his head. The other two had bare hands and feet. There were rings on Shadow's wrists however.

"You not gonna to take those off?" Sonic asked.

"No."

"What are they, anyway?"

"Inhibitor Rings," Shadow replied. "They contain my Chaos Power. I tire easily without them even when I'm not using my Chaos Powers, just from the strain of keeping my power inside. When I use my power, I can overexert myself easily. I only take them off in extreme emergencies."

Sonic stared. "That's it?"

"What's it? I'd say that's a damn good reason not to take them off," Shadow growled.

"No, no, not that. I completely agree with that."

"Then what, Blue Boy?"

"You told me that."

"Yes."

"Without any prodding."

"Yes."

"But you're _Shadow_."

"Yes."

"Would you stop saying that!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Tell me your point and I might."

"You're the big mystery! You're more enigmatic than Rouge! You never give any information about yourself to anybody! So why did you give it to me and Knuckles?"

"Actually, I already knew that," Knuckles said with a shrug.

"Since when did you two become friends?" Sonic demanded.

"Since about a year ago," Shadow replied lazily as he ate a piece of cheese pizza.

"Why? I mean you two don't seem to be…you know, compatible."

"We're not compatible with you, either," Knuckles said, "yet here we are."

Sonic snorted. "You gonna answer my question?"

"She wants us to be compatible. She usually gets what she wants," Shadow said, shrugging. "I find it's useless to fight. Now, you gonna answer Knuckles' question?"

"What question?"

"It was more of an implied statement, Shadow. I haven't actually asked the question yet," Knuckles said, sipping on his drink.

"Fine. I'll ask it. What's bothering you, Sonic?"

"Nothing."

Knuckles and Shadow looked at each other then stood, each holding out a hand for Sonic to take. After staring at them, he hesitantly took them. The feeling of fur on fur made him shudder.

"Just to be perfectly clear, we did ask you," Knuckles said as they pulled him to his feet.

Knuckles didn't let go of his hand when Shadow did. Instead, he guided the bare hand to rest gently on the large green gem. The echidna's hand lay over half of his, while Shadow's hand settled on the other half. Sonic stood there for a moment, confused to why nothing had happened, then screamed as power shot up his arm and down to the core of his being. He tried to pull away, but Knuckles and Shadow easily held him down. Sonic was trying not to drown in power as a connection was established.

 _"Hello, Sonic,"_ a delicate female voice said.

"W-who are you?" Sonic asked weakly once he'd found his voice.

_"I am Tikal. I am here with the emerald, but we are not the same being. I am the 'she' that Knuckles and Shadow refer to. I have a unique connection with the emerald that allows me to give voice to its whims and wishes, its thoughts and information."_

Sonic swallowed. "What do you want from me?"

_"I want you to talk to Knuckles and Shadow. Become their friend. Lay your burdens upon them. They will understand."_

Sonic tried to say that nothing was wrong, but the words caught in his throat and began to choke him. He finally stopped trying to say it and descended into a coughing fit.

 _"Do not lie to us, Sonic,"_ Tikal said sternly. _"We know how much it is hurting you. Shadow and Knuckles went through the same thing. Knuckles went through it alone, with us as his only comfort. We sensed Shadow's pain and brought him to Knuckles to help ease him. It is now your turn."_

"Oh like they would understand?" Sonic spat.

There was no verbal reply this time. Instead, warm pulses of power caressed him gently, encouraging him to talk. He flat out refused.

_"Very well, Sonic. Barring an emergency, you will stay on this island with Knuckles and Shadow until you speak of this thing. Understand?"_

"You can't control me like that, freak," Sonic muttered. A flush of power slammed into him and he yelled, dropping to his knees.

He jerked his hand off the emerald, holding it to his chest. That was the weirdest thing he'd ever experienced. There was a _person_ inside of the Master Emerald? A female. Named Tikal. He shuddered. He knew it disapproved of what he'd said. He could sense a scolding feeling hovering on the edge of his mind.

"You shouldn't talk to her like that. M.E. doesn't like that," Knuckles said, his hand now flat on the gem. Shadow's was the same, though the dark hedgehog stayed silent.

"Was she always in there?" Sonic asked shakily as he stood.

"No."

"What happened?"

Knuckles went as silent as Shadow, and the two stared hard at Sonic.

"What happened?" Sonic demanded again.

"We could ask the same of you," Shadow said quietly.

"Nothing happened!"

"Then I'll get you a bed ready," Knuckles said.

"What?"

"You heard Tikal. You're not leaving the island until you talk about it. So I'll get you a bed ready."

Knuckles hurried off on his task and Shadow stepped down to Sonic's level.

"The longer you resist her call, the worse off you'll be. You'll become more miserable by the day. I suggest just getting it over with."

"I'm fine. Nothing happened," Sonic said stubbornly.

"Suit yourself," Shadow said with a shrug then went back to the food and resumed eating.

Sonic soon found himself being driven up a wall as Shadow's prediction proved to be true, and he didn't know why. The food was great; he got whatever he wanted. The atmosphere was peaceful, yet there were many new places to explore, so he wasn't bored. Even the company was pleasant, which was a total surprise. So why was there a constant, nagging feeling that he should talk about what was bothering him? After two weeks, he finally could stand it no longer, but how to broach the topic?

They sat around a fire, making S'mores. Sonic finished his third one then leaned back on his hands. He looked away from them, though they were busy talking to each other and didn't notice. What to say? How to admit it?

Tikal's soft voice floated through his mind. _"Just say it."_

Sonic swallowed and spoke, his voice devoid of any emotion. "I accidentally killed somebody."

The silence was thick.

"Really?" Knuckles asked after a long minute, sounding extremely surprised.

"She wasn't joking when she said we both knew what the pain was like," Shadow murmured.

Sonic looked at him then turned to Knuckles. "I knew Shadow had killed before, but you don't seem to be the kind of person to kill."

Knuckles' face hardened. "Mine was as accidental as yours, Sonic."

"What happened?"

"I hit them too hard. They didn't get back up," the red echidna said, staring into the fire. "I didn't know my own strength back then. I was only seven. I was...devastated. I thought M.E. and Tikal wouldn't want me anymore, so I tried to jump off the island."

"And?" Sonic asked hesitantly.

"I was teleported back in front of them. Even after they explained that they weren't angry because it was an accident, it took me a couple years before I truly believed it. Those were hard, lonely, painful years."

Sonic nodded. "If it's anything like what I've gone through the past two months, I understand." He paused. "If you don't mind me asking...how many?"

Knuckles closed his eyes and tears shone at the corners in the firelight. "Five. Four men and one woman. They touched it. They wanted to take it. I saw red. I hit them all once, as hard as I could. At first..." His voice broke, and his gloveless hands squeezed into fists as more tears slipped down his cheeks. "At f-first I didn't realize what I'd done. I yelled at them to get up and fight some more. I never knew humans were so...delicate."

"I did," Shadow said in a low voice. "Maria was like a wisp sometimes when her disease took over. I bruised her a lot at first. I learned quickly to be gentle. Only when she was on the other side of the training room glass did I explore my strength and powers."

Knuckles nodded, but Sonic was confused. "I heard you mention her once. Who exactly is Maria?"

"…Was."

"What?"

"You mean, who _was_ Maria."

"Was…So she's…dead?"

"Fifty years ago. A GUN soldier shot her. Right in front of me. She sacrificed herself for me then sent me down to Earth." He paused. "I'm conflicted about what happened. I don't feel regret, but I know Maria would never have wanted me to kill."

"Who did you kill?"

Shadow looked up, the fire reflecting in his red eyes. "I don't know their names. I know how many."

"How…how many?"

Shadow's gaze was unwavering. "Twenty-two."

"Twenty…"

"Yep. All of them male. GUN soldiers. When I woke up they were hauling my creator away, but all I could see what the blood staining Maria's shirt, right in the middle of her chest. I broke the first man's neck. They started firing on me, but it didn't matter. I'm bulletproof. Their weapons weren't advanced enough to hurt me. I'm not sure what happened after I killed number twenty-two. I think they pushed me into electrical wires that had come loose when the escape pod had crashed. All I know is I lost consciousness. When I woke up…I saw Eggman. Fifty years had passed. I didn't have much time to dwell on it in the chaos that followed with the ARK.

"When I woke up back on Earth, I had no memories of Maria except of her being shot, so I didn't feel any remorse then, either. Then Black Doom comes and I regain my core memories as I go along on that journey. I've been remembering things ever since. Once I remembered Maria's plea, I began to feel…guilty. I can, even now, remember each time the life left a man's eyes. Maria would be crushed. Knuckles and M.E. and Tikal helped me get through that. So…that's my story."

"Getting it out of you was like pulling teeth," Knuckles grumbled.

Shadow chuckled then looked back at Sonic. "Alright. We've shared. Your turn."

Sonic blinked and looked away. "I don't know how to say it."

"Just do it. We have all the time in the world."

There was a long pause before the hedgehog swallowed hard.

"I…Even though I do quite a bit of running, I've always liked it when I can just be still and relax," he began hesitantly, playing with his bare, blue hands. "It's nice to slow down every once in a while, you know? Anyway, I was hanging around a lake, watching the fish jumping around and enjoying the fishermen's banter. I fell asleep. I woke up to a gun in my face. It was dark and the only light was from the moon and stars. The man didn't say a word, just stared at me, finger on the trigger. I stole the gun from him and began teasing him. I can't remember what was said. There was a _bang_. I…I don't know how it happened, but he was shot. I saw the bullet go into him. I can do that because of my speed abilities, and it can affect my sight. I…I just…He didn't get up. By the time I could move to check his pulse…He was gone."

"You have no clue how you shot him?" Shadow asked.

"I…I think I was swinging the gun around on my finger. Then I swung it upright and grabbed it a little too hard. I'm not sure, but that's what I remember. It hurts to think about it. It's sharp, but I don't want to relive it."

"We understand completely."

Sonic felt something wet on his face and he reached up to find tears on his cheeks. He gave a shrill laugh.

"I'm crying!" he sobbed.

"It would appear so," Shadow said. "Would you like a…hug?"

"I…I don't know," Sonic moaned.

Knuckles and Shadow came on either side of him, wrapping their arms around him. It should have been awkward. It should have been uncomfortable. It should have felt wrong. It should have, but it didn't. It was comforting and nice. They knew what he was going through. They had felt the crippling guilt, the debilitating pain, the paralyzing shame. And he had only killed one man. They had killed multiple. He cried in their arms and felt safe. Nobody else he knew would ever understand. Ever.

Sonic awoke the next morning lying on his bed. He felt better. Much better. He walked out of the building to find his two companions eating. He happily joined them. Shadow chewed thoughtfully on a bite of bacon then swallowed.

"So, are you going to be alright? Can I leave or do you need me here still?"

Sonic paused. Shadow wanted to leave? Well, Tikal had only restrained him to the island until Sonic had spoken about what was bothering him. So the next question was, did he still need him? Did he?

"I'm not sure. I feel a lot better. Just knowing that I'm not alone, that you've gone through it, too, helps a lot. Maybe stay until tomorrow and see?"

"If that's what you want." Shadow said, sipping his milk.

"I thought you didn't mind helping?" Sonic asked, noting Shadow's tone.

"I don't. But if you lie and say you're alright when you're not, that's irritating. I'd rather you tell me the truth now instead of being teleported back here with no warning whatsoever. Knuckles has done it three times. M.E. and Tikal are much more searching of his intentions, though he's more honest about it now."

"Be honest yourself, Shadow. Two of those times, you were just as torn up as I was," Knuckles said firmly.

Shadow's cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink. "I shouldn't need anybody."

"Neither should I," Knuckles growled.

"Ditto," Sonic agreed.

 _"And that is the very reason you three do need each other,"_ Tikal said. They looked at the Master Emerald.

"What do you mean, Princess?" Knuckles asked politely.

_"You three are fiercely independent, so you understand each other better than, say, Tails or Rouge."_

"Rouge is quite independent," Shadow replied.

_"But she is female."_

"True. I don't really understand what goes on in her mind half the time," Shadow admitted.

"Same with Amy," Sonic said with a shake of his head.

"I don't like Rouge," Knuckles growled. "She keeps trying to steal M.E."

"She likes gems. Really big ones," Shadow said in amusement.

"Well then," the echidna said importantly as he waved his hand at the Master Emerald. The other two were rather surprised when the jewel levitated then shrank down small enough to fit easily in the center of Knuckles' palm. "Still too big?"

"Yes. That looks just like a Chaos Emerald. She loves those, too."

The gem got even smaller, settled between Knuckles' thumb and forefinger. He smiled. "And now?"

"Better. Though she'd still steal it, but not for the size or power of it," Shadow snickered.

 _"Knuckles,"_ Tikal scolded with a laugh. _"You know M.E. doesn't like you playing with its size. Put us back."_

"Yes, Princess," Knuckles chuckled. He tossed the tiny gem toward the shrine and it was its proper size again.

 _"Oh! You just have to show off!"_ Tikal teased.

"Of course. That's the best part about having friends."

Sonic paused then smiled. Yeah. They were friends. Not the same kind of friendship as his relationship with Tails, but friends nonetheless.

"You guys are awesome," he said fondly.

"Eh, you're annoying," Knuckles replied with a wink.

"Amen to that, brother," Shadow laughed.

They paused and glanced at each other.

"You know that you can't tell anybody what we told you last night, right?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah, and we won't tell anybody what you told us. That's the agreement," Shadow said darkly.

"Well, duh! I wouldn't want anybody to know what I did. Or you. We're connected now. I can respect that you don't want anybody to know about Maria. That's very personal. There's stuff you haven't told me, but I can't expect everything at once. As for Knuckles, he's sorta in the same boat as me…He isn't telling me stuff either, but I'm used to that."

"What am I not telling you?" Knuckles asked.

"Your past. You always say you don't know it, but after the past couple weeks, I would bet you do. You just don't tell anybody."

It was Knuckles' turn to blush. "Yeah, well, you try telling somebody that you were raised by a spirit and a jewel."

"Aw, Knux!" Sonic laughed. "It's cool. I definitely believe you now. And I think Shadow does, too."

"Yep," Shadow replied. "He's had some funny moments. Like drawing pictures for M.E. and Tikal. And learning how to swim by trial and error."

"There were quite a few near death experiences," Knuckles told Sonic. "I came to in front of the emerald, coughing up water, many, many times."

Sonic immediately looked nervous. "Yeah…"

They stared at him for a few moments then stood. Shadow grabbed Sonic's hand and led him away from the emerald, Knuckles following. Sonic grew more nervous when he saw the pool they were heading for.

"No!" he wailed. "No! I can't swim! Let me go! Please!"

"Calm yourself, Sonic," Knuckles said. "From this direction, the pool slopes. Just walk right in."

Sonic was resisting as best he could as the two beings, both stronger than him and one just as fast, led him waist deep into the water. He stood there, shaking from head to toe. Shadow came up behind him, grabbing his middle to keep him there.

"Now, relax. Water is not your enemy, Sonic. _Relax._ "

"But I can't swim!"

"Why not?" Sonic shivered again and stared at the crystalline substance. "Talk to me, Blue Boy. Talk to me."

"I…I just never took the time to learn. I mean, I had a terrible accident in a river while fishing. I've been afraid of water ever since."

"What happened at the river?" Knuckles asked as they slowly walked deeper; Sonic should have obviously noticed, but he was talking so he didn't.

"I fell in and almost drowned. It was terrible. I kept swallowing water. When my cousin pulled me out, I threw up water forever." He suddenly saw how deep they were and began fighting.

"Relax, Sonic! I'm going to help you learn how to tread water, alright?" Shadow asked. "I'll hold onto you until you're ready for me to let go."

"No!" Sonic shrieked.

Shadow and Knuckles held him down until he began to weaken, which took quite a while, even with him using all his strength. He finally went limp, whimpering and shaking. They nodded when they realized he was resigned to his fate.

"There, was that so hard?" Shadow asked with a snort. "Now, put your arms out to the side. Yes, just like that. Now move them back and forth. Perfect. We're going to go a little deeper so that your feet won't touch…"

"I don't want to," Sonic moaned.

"Relax, Blue Boy. Knuckles and I won't let you drown," Shadow snickered as he moved Sonic deeper. "Can you touch?"

"N-no."

"Now, don't panic, but slowly kick your feet. Speed up as needed until you're supporting your own weight."

"Don't let go!"

"I won't…yet."

Sonic swallowed as he did as Shadow said. He fell into a rhythm as he concentrated on his body.

"This isn't so bad," Sonic said.

"And you're doing it on your own, too," Knuckles laughed.

Sonic looked up and realized that Shadow was standing over by the echidna. He was so surprised that he stopped moving. The next thing he knew, he was sitting in the shallows by Shadow and Knuckles, coughing up water.

"That's a good first lesson, I'd say," Knuckles said, idly stroking Sonic's hand.

Sonic nodded along with Shadow, grabbing the red being's hand. "Your hands are so soft when they're dry. Softer than mine are."

"Yeah…I can't help that. I don't know why, either. I spent my whole childhood not wearing gloves or shoes."

"It isn't just his hands and feet," Shadow said in amusement. "His whole body appears to be soft without anything added. You just can't usually tell because of your gloves. And the softest part?"

Shadow leaned over and took hold of the dry part of the echidna's dreadlocks. Knuckles growled as Sonic did the same.

"Whoa! It's cuddly!" Sonic laughed.

Knuckles snapped his teeth at the blue hedgehog, and Sonic yelped and skittered backward. Shadow smiled at him as he received the same treatment.

"Almost," Shadow said with a nod.

"Yeah. Almost," Sonic chuckled.

"I hate people touching my dreads, Shadow. You know that."

"Why?"

"Same reason you don't want me to do this," Knuckles said, then reached over and ran his hand down one of Sonic's quills. Sonic shuddered, slapping his hand away.

"Right. Personal and sensitive."

"Knux doesn't mind me doing that, but we've been friends longer," Shadow said, running his hands along the red locks. "He's just shy about liking it."

"Yeah. Well, I'm sure we'll get closer," Sonic said. "Now, I didn't get to eat much breakfast."


	2. Memories

Sonic was running toward Angel Island. Tikal's voice begged him to run faster.

" _Knuckles isn't here right now! He's coming, but he's not going to be here fast enough! We know you can go faster, Sonic! So please, go faster!"_

Sonic gathered his energy then there was a huge _BOOM_ as he went supersonic. He hadn't gone that fast in a long time, and he whooped in joy, ducking and dodging people and buildings until he saw the floating island. He stopped, panting lightly. He stared up, never having prayed to the emerald before. Looking around, he saw nobody then shyly knelt down, folding his hands.

_'Um, I'm not sure what to say. Here it goes…Master Emerald, would you please teleport me up to Angel Island? I'm needed, supposedly.'_

There was a green flash and he found himself kneeling in front of the Master Emerald. He stood and nodded gratefully. Then he saw Shadow, curled up right beneath the green gem. Sonic stripped his shoes and gloves off, tossing them aside before he walked over to settle against the shaking hedgehog between his quills, stroking them lightly to soothe. Shadow shook harder as he pulled away, turned over, and pressed close against him. Sonic was bewildered as he cradled his once-enemy to himself. He had no idea what was wrong, but he knew Shadow was in no state to talk.

That was how Knuckles found them an hour later. The echidna stripped his attire off then knelt down beside them.

"Shadow? You okay?"

Shadow shook his head.

"Can you talk about it?"

Shadow's stomach rumbled, and he looked up, his red eyes full of tears.

"You've been having memory dreams again, haven't you? You never eat when you do."

Shadow nodded. "I can't stop seeing her," he whispered, tears slipping down his cheeks. "She asks me why, in the dreams. Why didn't I save her? Why didn't I take the bullet? I'm bulletproof. I could've done it and we both could've escaped. But no. She died. I didn't get to hold her as she died either. I was sent spiraling toward Earth, the place she always dreamed about going to. She never did. She never got to see the flowers and the trees, breathe the fresh air. She never got to run and skip and jump and play like a normal child. She died on a cold metal ship orbiting the planet. I was her one hope of living a long, full life, and Robotnik never got to cure NIDS. He went insane, and that's my fault, too. I'm a pathetic failure."

"Hey," Knuckles said softly. "You're not a failure. You're not pathetic. You're keeping your promise to Maria. You're keeping the world safe. You're giving people the chance to be happy."

Sonic hesitated before stroking the dark quills again. "You're one of the most amazing people I know, Shadow. You're strong and brave and as fast as me, as much as it bruises my pride to admit it. But what amazes me the most is how sensitive you are."

"Sensitive?" Shadow asked, looking up again as more tears fell.

"Yeah. I don't know much about this Maria, but from the way you talk about her, she was fun and a joy to be around. You're darker than that, sure, but you're still a joy. You might seem like an insensitive monster, but you're not. You still bring happiness to your friends when they need it most, whether it be me and Knux or Rouge and Omega. And I think Maria would love that about you. You can't stop what happened, it's in the past. I wish I could have stopped what happened to my parents, but I couldn't. Don't linger on it too much, Shadow. It'll eat at you until you go crazy. Trust me."

Shadow and Knuckles stared at him then slowly smiled. "Thank you," Shadow said gratefully as he sat up. Sonic sat up, as well, placing a hand on Shadow's shoulder.

"That's the Shadow I know," he said with a smile. "Now, how about some food?"

"Sounds good."

"Anything in particular?" Knuckles asked.

"Cheeseburgers," Shadow said, eyes gleaming. "That was Maria's favorite food."

"Chilidogs!" Sonic exclaimed.

Knuckles nodded as he knelt down to pray, and the two requested dishes appeared along with a basket of fruit. The echidna ate grapes while the two hedgehogs chowed down on the meat. When they were full, they lounged there, looking around. They weren't uncomfortable; they just had nothing to say. At least they didn't until Knuckles cleared his throat.

"Hey Sonic? You get onto me for not sharing my past, but you never share yours either. Yet you mentioned your parents. So you remember what happened to them?"

"I…I don't like talking about it," Sonic muttered.

"I'll tell you more about Maria if you tell us," Shadow said.

Sonic frowned at him and they went silent, staring at each other. The blue hedgehog finally sighed.

"I loved my parents a lot, even if I was really young. They went out for a run and left me sleeping in the crib with our dog watching me. They never came back. Their corpses washed up on the shore two days later. I dream of them falling to their deaths. I've seen pictures of their bodies. That's how I see them now. Eyes eaten out, looking waterlogged. I have dreams of them, like you dream of Maria, Shadow. They ask me why I didn't help them. Why I didn't stop them. It's terrifying, seeing corpses walk up to me and hearing them talk with my parents' voices."

"So the fishing at the river thing was a lie?" Shadow asked.

"Not entirely. I…I hallucinated…I hope. I slipped and fell off the pier. I was holding on to a board when I heard a noise and looked down at the water. I saw their eyeless faces staring at me as they came up and grabbed my ankles. 'Come join us, son!' they called then jerked me down. I couldn't get free and struggled until I was nearly unconscious. My cousin pulled me out, and it turns out I was tangled in some kind of underwater grass. The only thing not explained is how I was pulled under. I didn't feel weak at all. I was actually pulling myself up when I heard them come up from the water."

Shadow and Knuckles stared at him with wide eyes.

"You…I only see those sorts of things when I dream," Knuckles said numbly.

"Yeah. Never during the daytime," Shadow muttered.

"I…Sorry," Sonic muttered. "This is why I don't like talking about it. I only told my cousin about it. He had me see a doctor, but I wouldn't talk about it to him. The way Snarky looked at me was terrible. Like I had lost my mind."

"Don't be sorry, Sonic," the red echidna said as he pat his shoulder. "We asked for it."

"Hey, Knux?" Sonic asked after a moment's silence. "You said you only see those sorts of things when you dream."

"Yeah. So?"

"What sorts of things?"

Knuckles shifted. "Well…when Pachacamac stormed the shrine of the emeralds, he woke Perfect Chaos, who decimated most of the Knuckles clan, which is the clan I belong to. Tikal says it is a curse to see the dead ones in dreams. It is the punishment of our kind to bear witness to the death of our innocence in the eyes of the Master Emerald. Though…what really happened is only shown once. Then our minds…twist things. I see rather gory things. It's worse now than it's ever been."

"I'm sorry," Sonic said then shyly turned to Shadow. "I would ask what you see, but I know _she_ is all you see…I think yours is worse than mine. You actually knew her quite well. I barely knew them. My parents were rarely home."

"Don't start comparing something like that, Sonic," Shadow said firmly. "What we see is different, tailored specifically by our experiences. Just because I knew Maria better, that doesn't mean it hurts me more than you seeing your parents like that any more than it means it hurts Knuckles less to see most of his kind decimated. You must understand that. We're not comparing to each other, we're talking, as friends, to help each other. Understand?"

Sonic felt a burst of relief at those words, though he hadn't known he was worried. "Yeah. Thanks."

Shadow sighed and stood. "Well, just to be safe, we should stay here a few days, yes?"

"Yep. What now?"

Knuckles and Shadow glanced at each other then grinned. "Another swimming lesson."

"I just had to ask," Sonic muttered.

They laughed joyously, the pain, for the moment, forgotten.


	3. Nightmares Come To Life!

There were screams from everybody but Omega, Shadow, Knuckles, and Sonic. Sonic stood near the center of the room, staring in horror at the two hedgehogs. They looked terrible. Their skin was eaten away in some places and they were dripping water onto the floor from a seemingly endless invisible source. But the worst thing was the dark, empty sockets where their eyes used to be.

"Come join us, son," the female said, beckoning the blue hedgehog toward herself.

Sonic began backing up, but they blurred over to him and reached over to touch him. Knuckles was suddenly there, jerking Sonic back and standing in front of him. The corpses stared at him for a moment then they turned into a female echidna, light pink and delicate in appearance. A strange creature that looked like a giant black, spikey worm erupted from the floor. A spiked tentacle lunged down and speared the female through the middle. Blood exploded from her chest, and internal organs dropped to the floor as the creature worried her. Knuckles stared in shock as Tikal, for there was no doubt in his mind that was who it was, writhed and screamed. She was thrown toward him, but Sonic and Shadow pulled Knuckles back rapidly. She began crawling toward him, mouth open as she tried to speak past the pain.

"Sonic, what's going on?" Tails demanded.

"I-I don't know! Just don't touch them!" Sonic said, his voice tinged with panic.

Tikal's eyes settled on Shadow, who, even as he braced for the inevitable, lost his breath when Maria stood in front of him. She was whole and perfect. Two GUN soldiers formed from the black goop that coated the center of the floor. Maria looked directly at Shadow.

"Why didn't you save me, Shadow?" she asked then the gunshot sounded out.

Blood oozed out from the small hole in her chest. Shadow watched as she started falling, and he raced forward to catch her.

"Maria!" he cried.

Just as he caught her, Sonic and Knuckles grabbed him hard, but it was too late. They screamed as blackness engulfed them and they knew nothing for several seconds. Then came the memories. One after another, their lives were bared. Nothing was kept secret. Once the memories were spent, the nightmares came. Again and again, they drilled into them their kills, their shames, their pain. They knew what it was like to be each other, and it lasted forever…


	4. Mirroring

Sonic gasped as he sat up. He could still see the corpses, Maria mortally wounded, and Tikal torn to shreds. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. He was lying in a soft bed. Knuckles was in the bed to his left, and Shadow to his right. They were sitting up, staring at him. They looked away from each other, feeling extremely vulnerable. There were voices outside the door and they quickly lay down again and closed their eyes, wanting to know what was going on before they showed themselves conscious.

There was the sound of the door opening, and Tails was talking.

"Their vitals have stabilized. Help me check their temperatures."

"You got it, Tails," Rouge's voice said.

Shadow felt a cool circle touch his forehead just as Sonic did. Knuckles followed a second later.

"Still too high," Tails said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they're still delusional."

"What do you think that thing was?" Rouge asked softly.

"An experiment gone wrong, I guess. Eggman wasn't in the base, remember, and the video logs depicted him being scared out of his mind by whatever that thing was."

"Why did it turn into those horrible…things?"

"I don't know. Playing on fears, maybe?"

"But Shadow has never mentioned this Maria before."

"And Sonic never mentioned those hedgehogs before. I don't know what to make of them. They might be his…"

"Parents?"

"Yeah. He never talks about them. He snaps at anyone and everyone who asks about them, including me."

"They were horrible. Those…eyeholes were terrifying."

"I can't help but wonder what it was. But I don't think he'll tell us. I don't think any of them will tell us," Tails muttered.

"What was with Knuckles, too? I thought he was the last of his clan or something. I mean, I've been on Angel Island lots of times, and I've never seen a single other echidna. Let alone a female."

"I worry about him. He leads such a lonely life. He needs a friend, but he's adamant that Sonic and me aren't his friends. I…I want to help him, but I don't know how."

"I don't know. All three of them appear to be hiding stuff."

"Yeah…Well, we can't do much more here. Let's let them rest."

There was the sound of retreating footsteps and the door shut. The three beings waited a minute or two before sitting up.

"Apparently," Shadow murmured softly. "We were delusional."

"And Eggman somehow created that thing," Sonic sighed.

"And now everybody has seen our darkest fears and insecurities," Knuckles growled.

They looked at each other and nodded once. They stood simultaneously and slipped on their shoes and gloves then snuck out of the building. When they were out, Shadow and Sonic grabbed Knuckles and took off toward the sweet call of the Master Emerald.

The next morning, Tails screamed in shock, causing Amy, Cream, and Rouge to come running.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Amy gasped then froze when she saw the empty beds. "Where'd they go?"

"I…I don't know! They were here last night!" Tails said frantically. "Where could they have possibly gone?!"

"I'll go check Sonic's house!" Amy said immediately then sped off.

"I'll go check Shadow's cave!" Rouge exclaimed then launched herself into the air.

Tails stood there with Cream, who quickly excused herself. Tails thoughtfully looked down at his clipboard. They were so eager to go to see where Sonic and Shadow went, but Tails had the feeling that they had gone somewhere private to be left alone, and if he knew anything, he knew that Knuckles liked his privacy, so he left a note then went to get the Tornado.

Two hours later, he got to Angel Island to find the three creatures asleep around the Master Emerald. There were lines of green flowing from the jewel to each of them. Tails flicked his finger through the one connected to Sonic and the hedgehog shifted before opening his eyes.

"Tails?" he asked tiredly then coughed. "What are you doing here?"

"Everybody thought, 'Where would the hedgehogs go?' But I thought, 'Where would the echidna go?' so…"

"Oh." Sonic yawned. "I'm hungry. You hungry?"

"I could eat."

"You two want food?"

There were grunts from Shadow and Knuckles, who sat up blearily. Knuckles prayed and food appeared. Tails was shocked.

"How did you do that?"

"Just eat, Tails," Sonic muttered.

They finished, and the echidna and two hedgehogs lay down again, yawning. Tails pulled a thermometer out of his bag and swiped their foreheads.

"Your fevers broke! Great!" he said happily. "You've had a meal of chicken soup, and you've had this…juice stuff, so you won't be dehydrated. As your doctor, I approve."

Sonic smiled. "That's nice."

Tails let them fall asleep again, and by mid-afternoon Rouge, Amy, and Cream were there. They stared at the exhausted trio.

"Their fevers broke," Tails informed them.

"That's good," Rouge said, going over to kneel by Shadow. "Did they talk about it?"

"No. I didn't even mention it. I didn't think it was a good idea. They were tired and weak."

With no warning whatsoever, all three of them shot up, eyes springing open as one word left their mouths.

"Maria!"

They surged to their feet, looking around desperately. When they saw where they were, they sank back down, trembling. Rouge lightly brushed Shadow's cheek.

"You okay?"

Shadow didn't give a verbal answer, but as he squeezed his eyes shut and hugged himself, they could tell that neither he, nor Sonic and Knuckles, who did the same thing, were 'okay'.

Amy walked over to the dark hedgehog. "Shadow?"

"What?" Shadow growled, opening his eyes to reveal that they were watery.

"Is that blonde girl we saw in Eggman's hideout…Is that Maria?"

Sonic and Knuckles were one hundred percent sure that Shadow was going to rip her still-beating heart out of her chest and gouge her eyes out. But the way she had said it stuck with them, and with Shadow. Her voice had wavered, unsure, yet so full of such compassion that it seemed like the strongest voice they had ever heard. Shadow stared at her as tears slipped out of his eyes.

"If you were any other person, Amy," Shadow said hoarsely. "And if you had said that in any other way, you would no longer be living."

Amy blinked at him. "Oh…" She paused. "So was it?"

Shadow nodded mutely.

"Where does she live?"

"…In the sky with the angels."

Rouge, Amy, and Tails stiffened. "You mean she was actually…sh-shot?" Amy whispered.

"...You're really starting to push it, Amy," Shadow growled in a low voice.

"Sorry," Amy said quickly, looking away.

"I don't like talking about it," Shadow said slowly, deliberately. "If I feel like telling you, I'll tell you. You can ask Sonic and Knuckles if that's true if you want. Until then, _do not_ ask again. I mean it. All of you."

"Don't ask us, either," Sonic muttered, drawing his knees up to his chest.

"Yeah," Knuckles said. "It ain't our place to tell you about her."

"Okay, then who was that echidna?" Rouge demanded.

Knuckles glared at her. "She was an ancestor of mine. She is no longer in the physical realm. That beast was Perfect Chaos. He once tried to destroy the world, and he is the main reason I am the last of my kind."

"Does this mysterious female have a name?" Cream asked softly.

"…Tikal. Her name is Tikal. And that is all I am telling you about her, so stop asking."

They nodded and Amy turned to Sonic and opened her mouth.

"Don't."

She paused. "Sonic, please, we just want to help."

"Talking about it won't help me."

"How do you know?"

"It'll just remind me."

"Remind you of what?"

Silence.

"…Sonic," Tails said hesitantly.

"What?"

"Well…Last year sometime you asked me to go through your desk to find some paper or something…"

"Yeah. And?"

"I…I found this," Tails said quietly, riffling through his bag and pulling out a newspaper clipping. Sonic took the paper and froze. His parents' eyeless faces were staring at him. He threw it away. Amy picked it up as he growled at his best friend.

"So you stole it from me?"

"No. I stopped by your house to get it this morning. I…I figured it would help us talk about it."

"These are the hedgehogs we saw in Eggman's hideout," Amy said, looking sickened. Cream moved to look, but Amy covered her eyes.

"No, Cream, you've already had nightmares about what we saw. You're not looking at this."

Knuckles took the clipping and looked at the two creatures. He snorted.

"I'm starting to not be freaked out by this sight."

"I know what you mean," Shadow said with a shake of his head as he stood to look again. "It's just different than Tikal and Maria."

"At least until they're pulling us underwater," Knuckles replied.

"Their voices kind of echo, don't they?" Sonic asked softly.

They paused and looked at him. "Yeah. I guess they do," Shadow said slowly. "Like they're trapped in a cave."

Sonic nodded then got up and grabbed the clipping again. "I still don't know how this picture got on the front page of the paper. I've never seen anything as bad as this in the paper since. Somebody was drunk off their ass when they approved this."

Tails, Amy, Cream, and even Rouge blinked at the language. Sonic was notorious for his dislike of cursing. To hear him so blatantly say something like that was shocking.

"Sonic, what's your last name?" Tails asked hesitantly.

Sonic answered without thinking. "Quilliam. Why?"

"Because the article called them by that last name. Those are your parents."

Sonic looked up to see the four people staring at him. Knuckles and Shadow touched him lightly. The blue hedgehog frowned, and when he spoke, his voice quavered.

"Yes, okay? Those two hedgehogs were my parents. So what?"

"You told me once that your parents were back on Christmas Island," Tails said, tilting his head.

"They are."

"But if this is them…there's no way they're alive."

"I wasn't lying, if that's what your accusing me of," Sonic said. "That's where their graves are. I just never visit them."

"Did they drown?" Amy asked gently.

"I don't know. I just don't know. Their bodies washed up on the shore, but they could have died on impact. They liked running near the Jagged Peaks, which drop off suddenly into the ocean. It was a long, long way down."

There was silence, during which tears dripped down Sonic's cheeks. He whimpered and sank down. Amy and Tails dashed over to embrace him, causing Knuckles and Shadow to back up. They watched silently as Sonic broke to pieces in front of them. They could feel his pain through some sort of link that was there, but they knew the best thing for him was to have Amy and Tails comfort him. They couldn't be there as often as the pink hedgehog and the yellow fox. Cream even walked over and nuzzled into Sonic's chest.

"It's okay, Mr. Sonic," Cream said softly.

"How is it okay? My parents are dead."

"You can share my parents if you want," Amy suggested.

"Or mine," Tails said. "You know they love you."

Sonic paused and looked at them. "It isn't the same."

"Nothing will ever be the same, Sonic," Shadow said darkly. "Once they're dead, they're dead. My creator is practically braindead, and the alien that I could call father is physically dead. I miss the first much more than the second."

"Not helping, Shadow," Amy growled.

"What's your point, Shadow?" Sonic asked, looking up; the black hedgehog didn't say or do anything mean without purpose, and most of the time it was just Shadow being Shadow, not Shadow being mean.

"Be grateful for the memories, Sonic. You can never bring them back, but you can remember them for the rest of your life. Remember the kindness and the joy they brought to you, not the bitter loneliness their deaths brought. Remember their comfort, not the reason you were sad. Remember them the right way, and that is the greatest honor you have. Remember how they loved you."

There was dead silence. Knuckles wasn't surprised by the kindness that Shadow had just shown. The black hedgehog was smart and perceptive, and had quite a bit more emotional depth than anybody gave him credit for. Sonic smiled at his darker counterpart.

"You're just a surprising individual, you know that, right?"

Shadow's lips twitched. "Sorry to disappoint you, Blue Boy."

Sonic snickered and wiped his eyes then stood. "Well, that's enough of that. You four, go away. We need to sort through whatever that thing did to us."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked.

Sonic opened his mouth to tell them about the link, but Knuckles' and Shadow's minds screamed loudly at him to not answer. Sonic blinked and shut his mouth.

"Nothing," he replied. "We just need to talk."

"Oh. Okay. I gotta go. The Tornado is acting a little funny anyways. See ya, Sonic. Knuckles." He paused before adding. "Shadow."

Sonic waved. "See ya!"

Knuckles smiled and shook his head, indicating his amusement. Shadow nodded once. Tails turned and led Amy, Cream, and Rouge away.

"Why didn't you two want to tell them?" Sonic asked.

"We don't know what it is or how it works, Sonic," Shadow said, crossing his arms. "Caution and secrecy is the best way to approach this."

"There might be some side effects that haven't kicked in yet," Knuckles said. "And they could be embarrassing."

Sonic thought about this. He hated being embarrassed, though it rarely happened. He didn't have many secrets. He had been humiliated when he found out that the others knew about his parents. He would never wish that on anybody. Including himself. So he nodded.

"Then our secret it will be. At least until we figure it out."

Meanwhile, Rouge stopped at the Tornado, which was parked just outside of the ruins.

"Did you three notice it?"

"What?" Cream asked, using her ears to fly up so she was face to face with the bat.

"The way they moved."

"What?" Amy asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Tails? Did you notice?"

"No. I didn't. Was something wrong?"

"Be quiet and come here."

They hurried back to the clearing to see the two hedgehogs and the echidna eating dinner.

"Where did they get the food?" Amy whispered.

Rouge slashed her hand through the air as Shadow's ear twitched toward them and he turned to look for the source of the noise. They hid until Rouge thought it was safe then came back up and the bat pointed at her eyes then at the three creatures. They got the message and watched them carefully.

Tails sucked in a breath as he noticed it first. They seemed to be mirroring each other, but, he thought as he studied them, they didn't appear to be aware of it. Knuckles would take a bite of apple at the same moment that Sonic bit into his chilidog and Shadow his cheeseburger. They would talk for a minute, though those watching couldn't hear what was being said, then take another bite or lift their cups to their lips. It was the most bizarre thing that Tails had ever seen.

Once Amy and Cream had reached the same conclusion they all hurried away to the Tornado again to discuss their findings.

"That's weird, isn't it Amy?" Cream asked, clearly unsure.

"Yes. That is definitely weird," Amy replied with a nod.

"I've never seen anything like it," Rouge murmured. "They're so different from each other. I mean, Sonic is nothing like Shadow or Knuckles, and they're different, too. What's making them do that?"

"Maybe the _thing_ that showed us that stuff did something else to them. I have a sample of its flesh. I'm going to go study it. Need a ride?"

"Nah, I'm going with Cream," Amy said, grabbing the rabbit's ankles. She was easily lifted into the air.

"I'm going to go find a Chaos Emerald," Rouge replied simply. "So stay outta my way!"

Tails was left by himself, so he slowly got into the Tornado and took off. Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles watched him go then looked at each other.

"This isn't going to be too hard, right?" Sonic asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love a challenge, but rumors have been circulating about Eggman again, and I need to be ready."

"Don't worry, Sonic," Knuckles said. "Nothing should interfere with that. We're just going to explore this link. What could happen?"


	5. Body Swap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay folks. Remember: red is black, black is blue, and blue is red. :) Read below for understanding.

Sonic woke up feeling weird. He sat up and yawned before going into the bathroom. As he walked, he noticed how strange he felt. There was this light brush against his shoulders, but he shrugged it off. At least, he did until he looked in the mirror and discovered the biggest shock of his life. Knuckles was staring back at him, his purple eyes wide, and his jaw comically dropped. But it wasn't funny to Sonic, who, though he hated it with a fiery passion, swore as loud as he could. Then he said a few more as he approached the mirror, shaking hard.

"No way!" Sonic flinched as Knuckles' voice came out, though he'd clearly said it.

He decided to skip the shower and stumbled over to his gloves and shoes, which hadn't changed. He moaned when they wouldn't fit and picked them up, unsure of what to do. He finally dropped to his knees and prayed out loud.

"Master Emerald, Tikal, this is an emergency! Please beam me and Shadow up to you!"

There was nothing for five seconds, during which Sonic began to cry, before there was a bright flash of green. He hit the ground as his body did…His body! What in the hell was going on?

"Me! I mean…Sonic! What's happened?" he asked desperately, trying to hide his tears.

"That, my dear fellow, is not Sonic. You are Sonic," Shadow said as he approached.

"So…who is he? Knuckles?" Somehow he knew that wasn't right, even as he said it.

"No, Blue Boy," Shadow grumbled from Sonic's body. "I'm Shadow."

"So that mean's that…"

Knuckles nodded and stood there with his arms crossed, looking irritated. The emotion was strangely out of place on Shadow's face.

"So I'm not the only one who woke up with a body change. Great," Shadow muttered.

"Stop crying, Sonic," Knuckles said, brushing by him.

"Heartless much?" Sonic asked, trying to do as the former echidna had asked.

Knuckles stopped and turned to approach him. The dark hedgehog knelt down in front of him and tilted his chin up.

"No. I'm not. But its really weird to see myself cry."

"I'm sorry," Sonic said, pulling away and hugging himself. "It's just…I don't know what's going on."

"I thought you liked adventure?" Shadow asked, his blue hand swiping away the tears on Sonic's red face.

"In my own body!" Sonic moaned. "Why am I Knuckles?"

"Same reason I'm you," Shadow said simply.

"Why's that?" Knuckles looked hopeful.

"I am not sure," the blue hedgehog said with a shake of his head. "But I'm guessing that this is a rather unexpected side effect of what that thing did to us."

"Damn it!" the red echidna swore.

Shadow and Knuckles looked surprised. "Wow. You really are upset," Knuckles said with a laugh.

"This isn't funny, Knuckles," Sonic said, tearing up again. "I'm scared and confused and I feel weird."

"Then welcome to the club," Shadow said, helping Sonic up. The blue being's stomach growled. "Damn, Blue Boy, do you ever eat?"

"I have a high metabolism," Sonic said with a soft snicker.

"I do, too, but this is a little ridiculous."

"Well, I was so tired last night that I crashed without eating supper. That's probably why I'm…I mean you're…how do I say this?"

Knuckles snorted. "Talk as if it's him. Don't use the first person for that. It'll confuse things."

"Fine. That's why _you're_ so hungry," Sonic said.

"You hungry, Knux?" Shadow asked.

"Sure," the dark hedgehog replied with a nod.

The Master Emerald granted them their favorite breakfasts. Before Sonic could take a bite of ham, Knuckles halted him.

"What? I'm hungry," Sonic complained.

"If this works the way I think it does, you do not want to eat meat," Knuckles said seriously.

"Why not?" Shadow asked, putting his fork down.

"Because he still has my stomach and my taste buds."

"So?" Sonic asked, sounding impatient.

"I don't eat meat, Sonic. It tastes awful to me, and if I do eat it, it makes me sick. I was raised on fruits and vegetables. That's what I eat. You are in _my_ body, therefore that should be what you eat."

"I don't like vegetables," Sonic growled.

"Shocker there," Shadow said with a snicker.

"Fine. Eat ham," Knuckles replied as he picked his apple up.

Twenty minutes later, Sonic was heaving his breakfast out all over the grass. He felt so sick it was scary. Knuckles and Shadow patiently held his dreadlocks as the rest of the contents of his stomach came up in another violent heave. Blessedly, it was the last wave. He sat back, shaking hard and crying again. There was no comment on the tears this time as he was picked up and carried to the pool. They washed his face and ducked him under to cool him off then sat there in the shallows with him. Knuckles spoke once Sonic had calmed down.

"I told you not to eat ham. Then you go and add bacon to it. Stupid move, Sonic."

"I'm never eating meat again," Sonic whispered, sniffling.

"You can once you get back into your own body. But my body is not used to meat."

"It hates it," Sonic muttered. "It wants to destroy it."

Shadow laughed softly. "No, Red Boy, it just wants to purge it."

"Red Boy?" Sonic asked.

"Well, I can't very well call you 'Blue Boy' anymore. _I'm_ the Blue Boy now," Shadow said with a wink.

Sonic got a laugh from that before looking at the water. "Can I swim in this body?"

"Swimming is not a part of the body, Sonic," Knuckles said. "You still have to take lessons."

"Then I want another lesson."

Knuckles and Shadow looked at each other in surprise before leading him down to the deep end. This time, they instructed Sonic to work on his breaststroke. He was doing a marvelous job by the time they were ready to get out. Sonic was pleased by the progress. They went back to the Master Emerald, where a glowing Tikal was waiting for them.

"Greetings, Princess," Knuckles said, bowing low. Shadow and Sonic did the same.

"Greetings, child of red. Or should it be child of black now?"

"Amusing," Shadow said as they stood, though there was danger in those words.

Tikal laughed. "My apologies, Shadow. I had to have my jest."

"I'd rather you _jest_ get on with it," Sonic quipped.

Tikal laughed again. "Oh, Sonic. You are a joy to be around."

Knuckles growled, his red eyes narrowing as he looked from Sonic to Tikal. Tikal was unbothered.

"Relax, Knuckles, you will always be closest to my heart. Trust me." She stroked his quills affectionately, making him shudder. He looked pleased.

"I do, milady. Thank you. Why are you physical?"

"M.E. and I are, to put it lightly, confused as to why you're now each other."

"Can you change us back?"

"That's the confusing part," Tikal admitted. "We cannot."

"…I don't want to sound rude," Sonic said softly. "But is M.E., you know…powerful enough to do so?"

Knuckles looked him over, studying him. "You are speaking out of ignorance, and are not trying to make light of it or be insulting."

"So?" Sonic asked.

"I don't have to hurt you."

"But is it?"

"Yes, Sonic," Tikal said, coming up to kiss his cheek. "M.E. is far more powerful than you realize. It takes only a tiny fraction of its power to keep this island afloat. It takes much less to make you food and drink or even to teleport you. A simple mind switch should be easy for it. But…there is some powerful magic afoot. Its roots are as old as M.E."

"What did Eggman create?" Sonic muttered.

"Eggman?" Tikal asked. "You believe this to be his doing?"

"Um…"

"It couldn't have been what he wanted to do with the thing," Shadow said thoughtfully. "But he created this...well, this _thing_."

"What did it look like?" Tikal asked intently.

Dead silence. She looked around, frowning. "Come now. Was it invisible?"

"N…No," Knuckles admitted.

"Well then what did it look like."

"My parents," Sonic said after a long pause. "My drowned, decaying parents."

"Maria and the Gun Soldiers," Shadow said numbly. "They shot her after she asked why I didn't save her."

"And…" Knuckles trailed off hesitantly.

"And?"

"You, Tikal. It looked like Perfect Chaos killing you."

There was a flash from the Master Emerald and Tikal placed a hand on it to soothe it. She appeared to be communicating with it for about two minutes. She removed her hand and nodded once.

"He has created nothing. He has unleashed Fear."

"But fear is an emotion," Sonic said.

"Yes. But it is also a powerful, powerful magical being," Tikal said solemnly. "It is as old as M.E., as I said. It was locked away by M.E. and the Chaos Emeralds thousands of years ago."

"What is it?" Shadow asked.

"A shape-shifter."

Knuckles looked thoughtful. "It locates your fears and becomes them so that it can touch you and…and…and what?"

Tikal nodded at him. "It feeds on your negative emotions. Fear is what it prefers, but it can sustain itself on any kind of pain. Sadness. Shame. Humiliation. Anger. Hatred. It absolutely thrives on hatred."

"Why isn't that it's preferred emotion then?" Sonic asked.

"Because true hatred is something that you don't find much of. But the three of us have it," Shadow replied. "I hate humans because they took Maria from me. You hate Eggman. It's the one thing you truly, truly hate."

"What about Knuckles?"

Tikal placed a hand on his shoulder. "His hatred is four thousand years old. It has been passed down from echidna to echidna, ever since I was sealed in here."

"What...who does he hate?" Sonic asked hesitantly.

"Myself," Knuckles replied.

"Knuckles!" Tikal exclaimed. "You hate your race, not yourself. You are as pure of heart as I am. M.E. likes that about you."

"I suppose," Knuckles said, looking away. Sonic frowned at the insecurity that he'd glimpsed in those eyes.

"Knux?" Sonic asked.

"What?"

"Tikal's not lying. She and M.E. love you. You're nothing like most of your ancestors. They only cared about themselves. You care…Well, that's it! You care! You care about everything and everyone. You'd even help Eggman!"

Knuckles looked up as he chuckled. "Yeah. I guess I would. Thanks, Sonic."

Sonic smiled and nodded. "Anything for a friend."

Shadow had watched without comment, but he had a strange sense that he wasn't needed. He was ready to help, but once Sonic had addressed the insecurity, he settled back and let them work. The Master Emerald flashed excitedly and Tikal placed her hand against it again. Her face twisted and she opened her eyes to look at Shadow then Sonic then Knuckles.

"You three, come touch M.E. Quickly!"

Sonic tried to dash over like Shadow did, but he couldn't move very fast. Knuckles, on the other hand, slammed face first into Tikal in the blink of an eye. Tikal and Sonic laughed heartily as Shadow helped him up. Knuckles' cheeks were bright red.

"S-Sorry, Princess. I…I don't know what happened."

"You wanted to obey her, yes?" Shadow asked, clearly amused.

"Yes."

"As quickly as possible?" Sonic asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes."

"Well, you're not used to being a hedgehog," Sonic laughed.

"What?"

"What Red Boy is saying is that your 'as quickly as possible' is a lot faster than what you're used to," Shadow said with a smile.

"I'm surprised he didn't go supersonic," Tikal giggled.

"It takes more than a second to go that fast," Sonic replied. "It takes a good minute of running before you can hit that speed, and that's me. And _I'm_ the fasted thing alive!" he finished proudly.

"Not anymore," Knuckles argued. "You're the strongest thing alive. _Shadow_ is the fastest."

Sonic looked shocked. "W-what?"

"Your speed is a part of your body, so that passes on to Shadow now," Knuckles continued. "My strength is yours now. I get Shadow's…Shadowiness."

"I'm just as fast as Red Boy," Shadow replied. "But I'm not as strong as you."

Knuckles nodded, and they turned to find an irate Sonic. "I want my body back."

"Yeah? I do, too," Knuckles countered. "Now, Princess, what is it you needed?"

"Oh, yes. Place your hand on M.E.," she said, placing her hand back on it.

They did so and were suddenly awash in the presence of the gem. They could feel its power rushing over them, around them, through them. Sonic suddenly didn't care that he wasn't the fastest thing alive anymore. Shadow felt a wave of peace, and he leaned his head against the gem. Knuckles had felt the feeling before many, many times. The one that came to mind was after he'd killed those people. It was the first time he'd felt like it was an accident and M.E. and Tikal didn't hate him. Their thoughts floated in a haze until words spoke to them. It wasn't the three creatures, and it wasn't Tikal's voice. The three males fell to their knees when they realized that the _Master Emerald itself_ was talking to them. Even Knuckles had never had that happen before.

_"There is power contained within the three of you. Great power. Fear was not able to destroy you like he did his other victims. He has encountered countless victims over the years, but none could withstand him for long. The way he kills is simple. He incapacitates a person with fear and draws them into himself to feed upon their emotions until their bodies melt into his. He has killed hundreds at one time before. You three should be dead. Yet you are not. It is a miracle."_

There was a long pause, during which they floated there in peace and bliss, before the Master Emerald continued. _"As this has never happened before, I am not entirely sure what occurred. Somehow, you three resisted him and were able to break free. Though, as you have noticed, there are some side effects. One that the three of you have noticed in passing is that you are linked together mentally. You sense each others intentions and thoughts, though they are not quite fully there. That link may be able to be expanded and encompass the three of you together. Another one is the fact that you switched bodies. There is a third thing, though, that has me most puzzled. When you were disengaged from Fear, you took a part of his deep magic with you, which is why I cannot switch your minds back. Magic that deep, as deep as I have, is not to be transferred without a merging of the minds. As far as I know, Fear is mindless. There is something special about you three. You have me quite intrigued. I would like to study his magic within you. Mayhap that would clear up some matters. But I need your full permission. I will give you time to talk it over. Come, Tikal, come into me again."_

They were released and fell backward, gasping hard. Tikal was gone and they just lay there, sucking in great breaths. Knuckles stirred first, leaping to his feet and laughing.

"It talked to me! It actually talked to me!" he crowed, dancing around happily.

"I look weird doing that, right?" Shadow asked Sonic, who nodded.

"It's a bit disconcerting."

Knuckles fell back and laughed again, hugging himself. He turned to his friends and his red eyes gleamed with tears of joy. "Oh!" he gasped. "I have waited my whole life to talk to it! Tikal said that it might happen someday, but to actually have it happen! Oh!" He laughed again. "I'm so happy!"

And now that the Master Emerald had pointed it out, they could _feel_ his happiness flowing into them. It made them feel giddy themselves, and Sonic jumped up and embraced Knuckles, who kissed his cheek repeatedly. They laughed together. Shadow stayed seated, his smile fading.

' _I don't belong here.'_

The thought cut through their happiness like a knife. Knuckles and Sonic turned to stare at him, their own smiles fading away. They approached him and sat on either side, each taking one bare, blue hand to stroke gently. Shadow looked down.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"You belong with us, Shadow," Sonic said seriously.

"It's not that."

"What is it then?" Knuckles asked.

"It's the situation. I don't belong here with you two when you're happy. I'm not a happy individual. I don't laugh a lot. I don't even smile a lot. I don't belong in your happy world. I belong in my own dark, dank, miserable world. That's where I fit in."

"But you laugh when Rouge and Omega are around," Sonic reasoned.

"That's once in a blue moon as it is, and I'm comfortable around them."

"And you're not with us?"

Shadow shrugged, keeping his eyes on the ground.

Knuckles looked up and Sonic nodded when he sensed the black hedgehog's reply.

"Shadow, you can be yourself around us. You can laugh and cry, or you can sit and stare at nothing. You're with us, and that's all we can ask for."

Sonic nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Besides, until we can figure this whole 'body switch' thing out, you're stuck with us."

Shadow looked up in confusion. "What?"

Knuckles reflected on this. "He's got a point. We can't just go and live our normal lives…or, well, you two can't. I could stay up here like this and nobody would care."

"Oh…I suppose you're right," Shadow said slowly. "Rouge and Omega wouldn't know what to think about me being Blue Boy. It would definitely make them uncomfortable."

"Tails would laugh himself purple," Sonic said then shuddered. "And Amy would finally catch me…Yep, it's official. We're staying up here until we sort the whole mess out."

"I don't think Amy wants to kiss you, Sonic. She would feel like she's kissing me. I think you'd be safe," Knuckles laughed. "Shadow, on the other hand…Well, let's just say it's a good thing that he's the fastest thing on Earth now…"

Shadow gave a short laugh at that. "That girl is _way_ too into you, Sonic."

"Tell me about it," he muttered. "But," he added. "And I swear I will kill you if you say this to anybody else, I do love her. I'm just sorta waiting for her to calm down."

Knuckles snickered. "How's that working out for you?"

"Um…not so well," Sonic admitted.

They chuckled themselves into silence, staring at the Master Emerald.

"Are we going to give it permission?" Sonic asked.

"I'm not sure…" Shadow trailed off with a hum.

"Let me tell you something about M.E. and how it studies," Knuckles said matter-of-factly. "It studies very thoroughly for several hours at a time. It is going to take multiple sessions. Probably more than when it asked to study me, and it took about twenty of those. It will read every thought, emotion, and memory in your head, even those you think you've forgotten. With things that we've done together, it will cross reference to see the different points-of-view. If we say yes, it will take time to ask us questions about our lives, sometimes to very personal things, and your thoughts and reactions will reply for you. You will have no privacy. In all likeliness, we will know what each other's responses are as they happen. We will have no privacy with each other. That last one should have no effect on your answer, though, as _that_ particular joy was forced on us by Fear. So, any questions?"

Shadow and Sonic shook their heads then went quiet to think. Knuckles stared at the ground and shared one last thought.

"I know this is a lot to take in, but consider just one more thing." He looked up at them. "If we do this, M.E. might be able to help us reverse the body switch. But it's not guaranteed. I've studied deep magic, and it is a finicky thing. Each type is different. M.E.'s is definitely different from what is contained within us. I can feel the undercurrent if I focus. It doesn't feel like M.E.'s. Not at all. We might have to figure it out on our own. But M.E. will help us all it can." He paused. "Just had to share that."

"That…was helpful," Shadow replied.

"Yeah. Just let me think about it."

Knuckles nodded and moved to go over to the green gem, but suddenly he slammed right into it. He swore violently as he rubbed his throbbing head. The pain quickly diminished, and he could hear Sonic laughing at him again. Knuckles' cheeks were hot as he sat down grumpily by the jewel, crossing his arms and harrumphing. He forced himself not to look at the echidna and the blue hedgehog. He was humiliated. Tikal giggled into his mind.

 _"It_ is _funny, Knuckles."_

Knuckles was tempted to share a rather creative curse word with her, but the emerald buzzed behind him and he thought better of it. So he leaned back and closed his eyes. "You have my permission," he whispered softly.

 _"Yes, Knuckles. But you are linked. I need all of your permissions,"_ the Master Emerald replied.

 _"Am I ever going to get to speak to Tikal again?"_ Knuckles asked.

_"Would you prefer to communicate with her instead of me?"_

_"No! I like hearing you,"_ the black hedgehog thought quickly. _"But I like hearing from Tikal, too."_

There was a musical laugh in his head. _"I am right here whenever you need to talk, child of black."_

 _"Good. I like being able to talk to both of you."_ Knuckles paused. _"But…if I may, green one, why have you never talked directly to me before?"_

 _"I am overwhelming,"_ the Master Emerald said, and Knuckles could sense a smile. _"I thought you would not be able to handle it. It overwhelmed Tikal and her body could not take it. That is why she became one with me."_

_"If she did…that, then why am I fine?"_

_"I believe that the deep magic has changed your physical structure. You three are absolutely buzzing with magic. I thought it would fade, which is why I did not mention it when you got home. That was a mistake. If I had caught it in time, I might have been able to stop you from becoming Shadow, and the like."_

_"I am confused, M.E.,"_ Knuckles said then flinched. _"I'm sorry, green one. I did not mean any offense."_

Tikal laughed and the Master Emerald gave off the smiling sense again. _"You did nothing wrong. You call me M.E. all the time. I will not condemn you for speaking that way now. Shadow and Sonic may call me that as well. Now, what are you confused about?"_

Knuckles couldn't stop the thought. _"Oh, like you don't already know."_

Tikal laughed harder as Knuckles blushed. The Master Emerald was highly amused. _"Yes. I do. But Tikal has taught me over the years to ask questions and wait for a reply. So, I ask again: what are you confused about?"_

The hedgehog relaxed. _"You said that you could not switch us back. Doesn't that mean that you couldn't have prevented it from happening?"_

 _"Good question, child,"_ the Master Emerald praised. _"A transference is a delicate thing, and can be undone if you know what you are doing. I do. When you came home, the magic was still soft and malleable, for lack of better terms. I watched you carefully for a day, and it appeared to be fading, so I paid it no more thought. It was not fading. It was settling. I did not think about checking you again until it was too late. When I saw you stumbling around this morning in Shadow's body, I knew just how mistaken I was. I am sorry for any trouble I have caused."_

Knuckles sat there for a moment then sighed. _"I should have come to you. I felt weird and tired all week. We both made mistakes."_

The Master Emerald buzzed behind him. Knuckles smiled and stroked it. _"You are too kind, echidna child."_

"Wow. You really like that jewel."

Knuckles jumped and sat up straight, breaking his connection with the gem. He blinked stupidly up and Sonic.

"What?"

"You're…petting it."

"Oh…Um…Yeah. So?"

"Why?" Shadow asked, crossing his arms.

"Oh, er…you'd have to hear the whole conversation to really get it…" Knuckles knew he was blushing and hated himself for it.

"You were talking to Tikal?" Shadow surmised.

"Yes. And M.E. It's actually talking to me now!" Knuckles finished happily.

They both smiled at the rush of giddiness that filled them.

"Well, we've thought about it and talked with each other about it. What is your verdict on the matter, Knuckles?" Shadow asked.

Knuckles shrugged. "Truthfully, M.E. knows everything about me. I don't care if it studies me again. You two are more of a hesitation, but, considering you already know my life story, I'd have to say that I have no qualms about being studied. I'm completely for it."

"Then we're agreed," Sonic said. "So, uh, how does this work exactly?"

The black hedgehog leaned back against the Master Emerald. "Do you want us now?"

_"Yes. I am most curious. Bring them in."_

Knuckles gestured for them to come and sit beside him. They did so then leaned back against the jewel. Power swept them away again, and they relaxed as the Master Emerald began its study.


	6. Strength and Speed

"Again!" Sonic ordered.

Knuckles shook his head. "I'm sick of working on this. Your turn."

"Fine. One more run, though."

"Ugh! Fine."

"Now remember, you need speed or else you'll just fall."

"I know! Stop repeating that!"

"Well, you clearly aren't getting the message. You slow down every time you reach the stupid wall!"

"Sorry if I don't want to smash my face. Again!"

Shadow stepped in, holding out his hands. "Stop it. Sonic, stop yelling at him. Knuckles, take his advice. Focus on speeding up when you reach the wall. At the very least, don't slow down."

Knuckles huffed and stormed to the starting place again. Sonic and Shadow were trying to teach him about his speed abilities. They were hoping to help him control when he used it. Sure, it was funny to see him burst forward all of a sudden and slam into whatever happened to be the closest thing in front of him. But it stopped being funny when the link widened and the echidna and blue hedgehog felt the sharp pain of hitting whatever it was. Sure, having Shadow's increased healing factor made the pain go away quite fast, but it still hurt like hell at the time of impact. The current lesson was teaching him how to run up a vertical surface. Why this particular lesson, Knuckles wasn't sure, but Sonic and Shadow thought it a good idea. Knuckles reluctantly got into the ready position and Sonic raised his hand.

"On your mark. Get set. Go!" he cried, bringing his hand down.

Knuckles lost his stomach as he blurred away, making him swear, but he didn't slow down as he approached the wall, though every single instinct was screaming at him to. He forced himself to speed up and managed to get his feet on the wall. He shot up the surface and found, to his horror, that he was slowing down. He tried to speed up, but there was no way it was going to happen, and there was no way he was going to make it. He felt himself begin to fall, and his whole body braced for impact. He hit the ground and the air was squeezed from his lungs as pain exploded inside of him. Shadow was there in an instant, cradling him as he wheezed. Sonic arrived seconds later, kneeling down to hold him.

"Easy, Knuckles," Shadow murmured. "It'll stop hurting in an hour or so."

"On a positive note, you actually almost made it!" Sonic said happily. "A little more speed and you'll be good to go!"

"Not now, Sonic. He can't even breathe right now," Shadow scolded.

Sonic looked embarrassed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude, Knux."

"Pick him up, Sonic. Let's get him back to M.E."

Knuckles finally caught his breath as he was cradled against a red and white chest. He curled close, tears streaming down his face. He hurt. He hurt so bad! But the pain was already lessening. He was set down right under the giant gem. He couldn't even reach out and touch it he was in so much pain. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a green tendril reached over and attached to his chest. He sighed contentedly as Sonic and Shadow leaned against the jewel, stroking him to show that they were there. After thirty minutes, Knuckles could sit up, and he did so, leaning against the gem and shivering.

"I'm glad I got thrown into Shadow, and not Sonic," he finally said. "Because I'm pretty sure a week is the minimum I would be hurting after that fall."

"I don't get hurt very easily now," Sonic said. "And everything is so light."

"I know. Which is why you keep breaking things," Knuckles replied. "Learn to control your strength, Sonic. Or you might kill somebody like I did."

"Too late," Sonic muttered, looking downcast.

"Hey. It was an accident," Shadow said, placing a blue hand on Sonic's red one and giving it a squeeze.

"I know. That doesn't help, though."

"We know," Knuckles and Shadow answered, nodding.

"But," Knuckles added. "We still love you. And so does M.E. And Tikal. So there."

Sonic smiled at that, settling back more firmly and petting the emerald. "Thanks, guys."

Knuckles nodded and nudged Sonic. "Your turn."

Sonic made a face. "No, you're too hurt to teach."

The dark hedgehog arched an eyebrow. "Shadow? Do you understand the game?"

"It is similar to the one Maria made up to help me control my own strength," the blue creature replied.

"Then teach him."

Shadow chuckled. "Nice try, Sonic."

The red echidna muttered under his breath as he and Shadow walked over to the clearing in front of the emerald. The balls appeared. Sonic slid into start position and waited for the signal. Shadow gave it, and Sonic took off as fast as he could, which wasn't nearly fast enough in his opinion. The object of the game was to not break the balls, which were light and very delicate. He had to grab a ball then race around a few trees and rocks before finally setting it gently into a metal bin. One wrong move, and he could shatter a ball, which would mean he had to start all over. He could get about half the balls at this point, but there was something about that fifteenth ball that made it impossible to get! He had worked his tail off to get as far as he had, but it still wasn't good enough. He hated his strength. It gave him a brand new appreciation for Knuckles and what he went through on a daily basis.

"Damn it all to hell!" Sonic roared as the fifteenth ball shattered again. He threw the shards down and wanted to punch something. Knuckles laughed heartily at his irritation as Shadow smiled and shook his head.

"Chill, Sonic. You're trying too hard. Just relax," Knuckles chuckled.

"Easy for you to say!" Sonic raged. "You're sitting there all relaxed while I'm struggling to hold anything without breaking it into a million tiny pieces! If you weren't in Shadow's body, I wouldn't even touch you! I…I want my body back!"

Sonic was on the brink of tears. Shadow was by his side in an instant, shushing him. Knuckles watched thoughtfully for a few moments then stood shakily and staggered over.

"Sonic? Follow me. You, too, Shadow."

They glanced at each other before obeying. They walked for about half a mile before reaching a field. Knuckles climbed into a tree and grabbed something then skittered back down. He held something in his hands, but neither one of them could see what he had, and Knuckles was keeping his thoughts to himself; they were actually getting good at transferring thoughts to one another.

"Hold out your hands, Sonic. Cup them together."

Sonic obeyed. Fear hit him as Knuckles set a baby bird in his open palms.

"Knuckles, are you crazy?" Shadow demanded.

"No. This is how I learned. I like playing with the animals up here. I never hurt them. What you need to do, Sonic, is trust your instincts. That is why I have so much trouble running. In my body, you have to trust your instincts or you crush everything. In your body and Shadow's body, you don't trust the instincts screaming at you to stop-before-you-hit-that-thing. That is why you and I are having so much trouble adapting to these bodies. We're polar opposites."

"I'm bipolar, actually," Shadow said. "I have to trust them with my strength, but not with my speed. It can get confusing sometimes."

"I have no trouble controlling your strength," Knuckles said with a shrug. "It's not as strong as mine, so it's not too hard."

Sonic was hyperventilating as he held the bird. He was going to kill it. He knew it. Knuckles mind rubbed against his.

_'Come on, Sonic, relax. Don't think about it. Just relax and pet it. Go on.'_

Sonic hesitantly shifted the bird into one hand and lightly touched its head. The bird chirped and nibbled his fingers. The tension left the red echidna in a soft laugh. He stroked the fluffy thing and suddenly realized what Knuckles had been talking about. He knew just how hard to press. He didn't have to think about it. In fact, when he thought about it, the knowhow began slipping away. So he didn't think about it and just pet and stroked the little creature. Knuckles was pleased and returned the baby bird back to the nest.

"Good job, Sonic. See? Was that so hard?"

"Not really," Sonic admitted. "Once I got past the thought of killing it."

Shadow smiled. "I suppose that is how I learned, too. Only mine was with Maria and not animals. I'm sorry for doubting you."

Knuckles shrugged. "It's cool." He paused. "You're still going to have to play the game. There are more levels than what you're working on right now. But trust your instincts and it will be much easier."

"Thanks. And my advice to you is to _not_ trust your instincts. You'll still run into things, sure, but you'll get it," Sonic assured him.

"Knuckles? What do they want?" Shadow asked, pointing to the deer that were staring at them.

"Apples. I always give them apples when I visit. Catch the apples when I toss them down," Knuckles said as he climbed an apple tree.

They did so then Knuckles climbed back down. He picked up several apples then walked toward the creatures. They shied back, and Sonic and Shadow expected them to run. If that didn't happen, they thought to just set the apples down and hurry away. Neither of those things happened. The deer watched Knuckles approach. He paused five steps away and whistled a strange, warbly whistle. They suddenly dashed forward and nuzzled him. Knuckles gestured for Sonic and Shadow to join him. The deer looked wary again until Knuckles whistled again, twice this time. The other two were surrounded, too, and they laughed as the deer licked at them. Shadow's laugh surprised both the black hedgehog and the red echidna, but they rolled with it.

"Now, give each one an apple," Knuckles instructed.

They handed them out, still chuckling at the way the animals licked at their hands as they gave them the fruit. When they deer were happily eating their apples, Knuckles led the other two back to the Master Emerald. He hesitated then turned to face them.

"I want to try again."

"Are you sure?" Shadow asked, looking him over.

"I'm not hurting anymore. I want to try again," the black hedgehog repeated.

"Okay then," Sonic said. "To the starting gate!"

"It isn't a race, Sonic," Shadow said.

"Whatever," Sonic replied.

Knuckles lined himself up again, taking a deep breath as he focused. He could do this. No. He was _going_ to do this. Sonic gave the starting signal. Knuckles took off like a bullet, pushing himself to go faster than he was comfortable with. Then faster still. He could hear Sonic cheering him on as he reached the wall. He shot straight up the hundred feet with no problem and slid to a stop just before he ran off the other side of the plateau. He whooped in joy, grabbing a rope and sliding down it to the ground. Sonic embraced him.

"You did it, Knux! You did it!"

"Congratulations," Shadow said with a smile.

"Now you know you're still going to have to practice, right?" Sonic asked seriously. "Just like I do. There is so much stuff you haven't tried yet."

"I don't have to try everything, Sonic," Knuckles argued. "I just have to be able to control it."

Sonic frowned and looked upset. "But…then you'll never know how fun it is to do them…"

"He's got a point, Knux," Shadow said. "It _is_ fun to be fast and acrobatic."

Knuckles looked thoughtful. "I'll make you a deal."

Sonic's eyes lit up. "Alright. What?"

"I will let you run me through the ringer of your tricks and abilities if I am allowed the same privilege."

Sonic laughed. "Okay! What first?"

"Gliding."

Sonic blinked. "Gliding? You mean in the air?"

"Yes."

"How do you do that, anyway?"

"My dreadlocks. I can catch air under them and glide. It's tricky though."

"Fine. Where do I learn?"

"Windy Canyon. We'll head there tomorrow. It's time for another M.E. studying session, though. Let's get back."

Knuckles took two steps then smirked at Sonic.

"Race you there!"

"Hey! No fair!" Sonic asked as Shadow and Knuckles left him in the dust. He crossed his arms and pouted. There was a blur of black then his arm was grabbed and he found himself dragged along back to the Master Emerald. Sonic laughed again. "Wow, I miss going that fast!"

They bowed to Tikal, who was standing there waiting for them.

"Greetings, Princess," Sonic said. "We are ready."

"Good. Come touch M.E."

They did so, settling back contentedly as they were swept away in bliss and relaxation. This was their twenty-fourth time doing this. M.E had finished Knuckles' life and was currently working through Shadow's. It wasn't as long as the others' lives, despite the fact that he was over fifty years old, and Shadow had asked to just get it over with. The two hedgehogs and the echidna had gotten over their embarrassment around the tenth time. M.E. asked many questions about their lives, and they were often humiliating. At least they were until Knuckles pointed out that everything they were talking about would never leave the five of them. They swore each other to secrecy then lost their embarrassment, relaxing and letting M.E. do as it wished.

 _"Fascinating, Shadow,"_ the Master Emerald said. _"Your relationship with this Maria is so deep. I would love to have studied her. A bond so deep, yet so young. It is a true tragedy that she is gone. Though perhaps it is better this way."_

Shadow sobbed. _"W-why are you saying that?!"_

_"If she had lived, her disease would have become progressively worse. She was in the advanced stages already. She would have died slowly and painfully, and you would have lived for fifty years without her, conscious and in agony and hating life instead of floating in suspended animation. The bullet killed her in two minutes, releasing her from the prison of her diseased body. She went quickly and peacefully."_

_"Peacefully?"_ Shadow asked, tears streaming down his face. _"How?"_

 _"Because, Shadow, you escaped alive and well. Her last thoughts were those for you, hoping that you were safe and happy."_ There was a pause. _"You are safe. But are you happy?"_

Instead of a prompt answer, thoughts raced through them. They stayed silent as he thought. Suddenly a memory appeared of Rouge and Omega. Omega was covered in some kind of oil, which had just spilled from a barrel that Sonic had knocked over as he ran by. Rouge was laughing, and they could feel that Shadow himself was smiling.

"Careful, Omega," he said, shaking his head. "The female robots will be all over you."

"Comment: questionable. Query: Why would female robots be all over me?"

Shadow's smile got bigger. "Because you're so slick."

Rouge lost it again, and Omega stared at him then spoke quietly. "I do not understand."

Shadow chuckled. "I'll explain while we clean you off."

Another memory came up, this time of the three linked beings sitting around a fire. They had their normal bodies, and Sonic was laughing about something. Knuckles glanced at Shadow.

"Please beat him in a race?" he asked quietly.

Shadow snickered. "I don't know if that's possible. Even if it was, it would break Blue Boy's heart."

"Come on. It could stand to be broken."

Shadow shook his head. "It would break his spirit, too. I don't want a broken Sonic. I like him just the way he is."

"Yeah. I guess I do, too."

"What are you two whispering about?" Sonic asked, frowning.

"You," Shadow said.

"What about me?"

"How slow you are," Knuckles replied.

Sonic bristled. "I am _not_ slow! I'm the fastest thing alive!"

"I bet Shadow could beat you."

"No way! C'mon, Shadow. Race me! No shoes allowed though!"

"No, Sonic. I'm not racing you."

"Coward."

"Yep. I'm a coward."

"Eh, you're no fun sometimes," Sonic complained, standing up and walking toward his cot. "I'm going to bed."

Shadow chuckled. "He's so fun to annoy," he said to Knuckles.

"I heard that!"

Amusement filled Shadow to the brim, but he didn't let out more than a chuckle. Knuckles laughed outright and the memory faded.

 _"I suppose I am happy,"_ Shadow finally said shyly. _"I have two sets of friends that love me in their own ways. I have food and shelter from the elements. And I have Maria's memory to sustain me. I wish it was more than a memory, but it is what it is, and I can't change that."_

The Master Emerald gave off a smile. _"Good. Now, I am most curious about your awakening."_

 _"Is this helping?"_ Sonic mused then flinched when he realized he was heard.

 _"Is what helping?"_ Knuckles asked.

_"This whole searching us and stuff. I don't see how it will help."_

_"M.E. must understand all about us before it can understand how we interact with the magic in our systems,"_ the black hedgehog explained patiently.

_"But..."_

_"What is wrong Sonic?"_ the Master Emerald asked.

If they had been speaking in the physical realm, Sonic wouldn't have answered. But his thoughts answered for him.

_"I just want my body back. I miss Tails. Hell, I even miss Amy."_

Understanding flowed from Shadow and Knuckles. Shadow physically reached out to hold his hand as he spoke gently into the red echidna's mind.

_"We don't know for sure if it will work. But we have to have hope."_

_"Ugh, you sound like Sonic,"_ Knuckles teased.

Sonic laughed at that then relaxed back, soothed for the moment, but all three of them were getting antsy. It had been almost a month since the body change, and, though the Master Emerald was making progress, it was slow progress, and it was even driving Knuckles up a wall. But at this point, all they could do was wait.


	7. We Need The Emeralds!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, black is blue, blue is red, and red is black. But NOW they're being called by the name that is supposed to be with their body.
> 
> If you thought it was confusing before...

The Tornado landed right in front of the Master Emerald. Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow sat up, rubbing their eyes to get the sleep out and trying comprehend what was going on. Amy leaped out and dashed over to Shadow, who grunted in shock as she hugged him.

"Sonic! There you are! Oh, we've been looking everywhere for you!" she exclaimed, pulling back to see that the blue hedgehog had wide eyes.

Sonic was dying of laughter, pointing at them.

"This is no time to laugh, Knuckles," Tail said seriously, hurrying up to Shadow and holding out a note. "We got this from Eggman. It's a trap, no doubt, but you always like a little fun, so it shouldn't matter much."

 _"Why are they giving this to me instead of you, Sonic?"_ Shadow asked as he forced Amy off of him and took the note.

Knuckles frowned. _"Because to them,_ you _are Sonic, and Sonic is Knuckles. And I'm Shadow."_

Shadow and Sonic looked at each other and thought at the same time, _"Shit."_

 _"Shit indeed,"_ Knuckles replied. _"And we're ten feet under it."_

"Hey…" Amy said, looking between them. "What is Shadow doing here?"

There was dead silence as every eye landed on Knuckles.

 _"What do I say, Shadow?"_ Knuckles asked in a rapid burst of thought.

Shadow answered him back in the same way. _"Nothing. Cross your arms, scowl, and say absolutely nothing."_

Knuckles did as he was told and Tails huffed and looked away. "Typical," he muttered.

 _"Shadow,"_ Sonic burst, _"read the note out loud. Try to sound like me."_

Shadow felt nervous, but held the note up and tried his best to sound like Sonic. "I know that you're out there Sonic. I have a proposition for you. You bring me the Master Emerald and all the Chaos Emeralds, and I will seal up Fear with them. I am the only one who knows how to do it, so you have no choice. You don't want such a powerful monster killing people, now do you? Eggman."

Sonic looked thoughtful. "Hey, Kn…I mean, Shadow. Do you think that will work?"

Knuckles frowned, shifting his weight as he drew on Shadow's memories and instructions on how to look and act. "Well…the combination of all the emeralds sealed that thing up before. But I wouldn't trust Eggman with them. The way the note was written…He knows he's got the best excuse in the world to get his hands on the emeralds, and he knows that you…that Sonic has seen Fear, and that he would want that thing contained. We don't want Eggman to do it, but the question remains…can we do it ourselves?"

"Yes, but do we have to use the Master Emerald?" Sonic asked, mimicking Knuckles' personality.

"Yes. We need its power to combine with the power of the Chaos Emeralds," Knuckles replied.

"Yeah," Shadow said with a snort. "So get off it, Knuckles. Just bring the stupid thing."

Sonic felt his temper flare. Oh, he knew that Shadow was acting, but to talk about M.E. that way?

"Can it, Sonic!" Sonic barked, grabbing his throat.

"Okay! Geez, I'm sorry."

"You're damn right you're sorry," Sonic growled, releasing him.

"Knuckles, relax," Tails said, grabbing Sonic's arm. "He didn't mean anything by it."

"He should know better by now," Sonic muttered, crossing his arms.

"Yes, well, you know Sonic…" Tails muttered.

"What do you mean Tails?" Shadow demanded.

"I just…you like to joke around."

"Oh. Yeah. I do."

"Can we get back to business?" Knuckles asked irritably.

"Shadow has a point," Amy said, smiling at him.

Knuckles ignored her. "So, Knuckles, do we have the Master Emerald?" he asked Sonic.

Sonic frowned and shifted as he thought about it. "Fine. But _I_ keep the Master Emerald. Got it?"

"Whatever," Shadow said. "Hey, Shadow, do you have any Chaos Emeralds on you?"

Knuckles nodded, pulling it out of subspace. "The red one. And I know Rouge has the yellow one."

"You go ask her for it. She's your friend right?"

Knuckles shrugged one shoulder. "Something like that."

"Go on then. Knuckles, grab the Master Emerald and come on!"

They set off on their tasks. Tails and Amy were talking about the note, but Shadow and Sonic went quiet, staring off into the clouds. They just stared at the floor of the transport unit and connected their mind to Knuckles, who was racing off to Rouge's house. His running was better than it should have been, given his previous level of control and skill, and they were all freaked out by it.

 _"That was scary easy,"_ Sonic moaned into his friends' minds.

Knuckles nodded, bouncing off a tree and shooting across a river. _"I felt like I was actually Shadow when we were talking. It was so natural to act like you, Shadow."_

 _"I have never been one for strong emotion,"_ Shadow said blankly. _"Yet Sonic feels so strongly for everything. Every word has an emotion attached to it. I'm drained."_

 _"You can't be drained, Shadow!"_ Sonic said, placing his boxing-gloved hand on the blue arm. _"We have to stop that thing! Maybe if we do, we'll go back to normal…"_

They thought about that, relishing the idea of being back in their own bodies. Sonic could see himself hanging out with Tails and laughing over their most recent victory. Shadow saw himself sitting with Rouge and Omega and talking about how silly the others were. Knuckles saw himself…alone. With the Master Emerald and Tikal. On Angel Island. Where nobody else lived.

 _"Geez, Knux,"_ Sonic snickered. _"You can always join me and Tails. He enjoys your company a lot."_

 _"After some major alone time, Sonic,"_ Knuckles said as he shot up a tree to Rouge's front porch. _"I am a loner by nature. I'm stressed by all the time I've spent with you two. Don't get me wrong, you're good company, but I could use some good old R &R with M.E. and Tikal, and nobody else."_

 _"Be very careful to act like me, Knuckles,"_ Shadow said seriously as Knuckles raised his hand to knock. _"Rouge is naturally very suspicious, and so is Omega. They will notice the little things that you might not. If in doubt, stay silent, scowl, and shrug if the situation calls for it."_

 _"Thanks, Shadow,"_ Knuckles thought then knocked. Rouge came to the door and smiled.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Shadow the Hedgehog. What brings you here?"

"I need your Chaos Emerald."

She frowned. "Just like you to be direct. What do you need it for? Did you lose yours?"

Knuckles shook his head. "No. I need it to defeat Fear."

"Fear? Shadow the Hedgehog afraid?" Rouge asked playfully.

"No. It is a powerful magical being made before time was recorded," Knuckles said, crossing his arms. "We need to seal it back into its gem."

"Which requires the Chaos Emeralds," Rouge surmised.

"And the Master Emerald."

Her eyes lit up. "Ooh, so we have to steal it from that stupid echidna?"

Knuckles was so in character that he didn't even react. "No. Knuckles has agreed to be a part of this plan. We have the Master Emerald and my chaos Emerald. Sonic, Tails, and Amy are going to try to pinpoint the other five."

She narrowed her eyes and Knuckles panicked internally. Rouge shook her head.

"You are helping those idiots and you didn't invite me? And where's Omega?"

Knuckles snickered. "Relax, Rouge. I didn't just come for your emerald. We're going to need the best to help us contain this thing. And you are the best. And so is Omega. We're going to find him next. But I need your emerald. Are you in?"

She studied him then brightened. "Sure. As long as I get it back. It looks really pretty where it is and I'd hate to lose it."

Rouge retrieved it and looked at it longingly before handing it to Knuckles, who slipped it effortlessly into subspace. She leaped into the air.

"Grab on. I think I know where Omega is."

Knuckles took hold of her feet and off they flew. Within an hour they were to their destination. Omega was cheerfully tearing through about twenty Eggman Robots. Rouge launched Knuckles over and they quickly terminated the robots. Omega scanned the area when they were done and made a satisfied buzzing noise.

"You have my gratitude," he intoned.

"Stupid Eggman," Rouge laughed. "Thinking he could defeat you. How many did you go through?"

Knuckles spoke before Omega could reply. "Now is not the time, Rouge. We have more pressing matters."

"Eggman?" Omega queried.

"I'm sure we'll have to fight him along the way, but our enemy is greater than Eggman."

"Nothing is greater than Eggman's demise," Omega said angrily.

"I understand that you have a personal vendetta against Eggman. However, _you_ want to be the one to kill him, right?"

"Affirmative."

"Well, if Fear gets anywhere near him, he's as good as dead. Even if he could break away from Fear the way that Sonic, Knuckles, and I did, he probably would be certifiably insane, and not like he is now. Maybe even braindead. And what's the fun in killing somebody who can't scream as you shoot them?"

Omega considered this carefully. "Answer: I will help you. But if the chance arises to terminate Eggman, I will not hesitate to take it."

"Understood," Knuckles replied.

"Grab on, boys. We're going to Tails' lab!" Rouge laughed, flapping into the air.

Knuckles grabbed her feet and felt Omega latched onto his as they took off.

Omega made a beeping noise. "Fear does not compute," he said loudly. The black hedgehog and the bat looked down.

"What do you mean, Omega?" Rouge asked, just as loudly.

"There is no record in my database for Fear. More information is needed."

"Here's what I know," Knuckles said, then began filling in his companions, sparing a single, passing thought for Shadow and Sonic.

They were sitting silently in Tails' lab, staring at the screen as their fox friend tried to pinpoint the other Chaos Emeralds.

Tails was really busy, but he paused in the middle of a sentence and turned to look at Shadow.

"Are you alright, Sonic?"

Shadow didn't move so Sonic elbowed him hard.

"Sonic! Are you alright?"

Shadow blinked and looked up at Sonic. He shook his head and descended into character.

"What? Yeah, sorry Tails. Just trying to figure out Robotnik's game."

"You usually leave that to me…" Tails was confused.

Shadow floundered for a thing to say and said the first lie that popped into his head. "I just had a dream about my parents last night. I haven't felt good all day."

Tails immediately understood, and his expression showed it. "Oh. Do you need to talk about it?"

"Nah. I already told Knuckles."

The two-tailed fox looked hurt and a little bit angry. "Oh. So you don't visit me for two months, but you take time to visit Knuckles and talk about your dead parents?"

Shadow was drowning, and his mind screamed loudly for Sonic to stop sitting there and _help him_!

"Chill, Tails," Sonic said soothingly. "Maybe he doesn't feel like he can talk to you about that."

"Why not? We're best friends!"

"Well, I know this is a sensitive subject, but you _are_ only eight. What happened to his parents is really gruesome, and I think that Sonic feels like he needs somebody older to talk to. What he told me, I really wouldn't want you to know. It's nothing personal, but you're just too young for him to burden you with this."

Tails frowned and thought about it. "I guess I can see your point. Sorry I got mad at you, Sonic."

"Eh, we're cool," Shadow said with a shrug. "Find any emeralds yet?"

"Yes. I've found the blue one and the silver one. Why don't you two go get them. When you get back here, I'll probably have the other three down." He handed Shadow the locations.

"Aw, yeah! Time us! And if we're too slow, you know who to blame!" Shadow laughed, grabbing Sonic's arm and rocketing off.

When they were clear of the cameras and the audio receptors that Tails had installed around the lab, they dropped the act and Shadow moaned. "You are way too emotional Sonic. How do you stand it?"

"I don't know," Sonic replied, his grip locked around Shadow's arm; he didn't like being dragged along, but it was the only way to get around fast in Knuckles' body. "I just like being emotional."

_"Guys?"_

_"Knuckles!"_ they both exclaimed.

 _"Hey, have Rouge and Omega killed you for not being Shadow yet?"_ Sonic asked with a laugh.

 _"Yes, this is my dying wish,"_ Knuckles said sarcastically.

Shadow chuckled as he ran up a cliff, 'accidentally' dragging Sonic through a branch. Sonic cursed and brushed his fur to get the splinters out. Knuckles was so in character that he didn't laugh. He smirked.

_"Thanks Shadow. I owe you one."_

_"No problem,"_ Shadow replied. _"What do you need? Having trouble?"_

_"…No. That's the scary part."_

_"Yeah…I know. It's only when you stop acting that it hits you. So what's up?"_ Sonic said as Shadow put on another burst of speed; any faster and he would go supersonic.

_"Do you always fly in silence?"_

_"Hm? Yes, unless one of us has information to convey. The three of us find idle chatter to be useless. Though…when Rouge feels like it, she shares some details about her life,"_ Shadow replied. _"Ready Sonic?"_

 _"Born ready!"_ Sonic crowed. _"Hit it!"_

Knuckles felt the moment they went supersonic. His body tightened at the sensations that flew through him. He had never been a fan of going fast, but in that one moment, as the boom sounded out on the other end of their connection, he felt the desire to run as fast as he could to reach that instant when the speed took your breath away and sound couldn't catch you. It scared him that he wanted that. He shifted his grip and swallowed.

"Shadow?" Omega asked. "Are you functioning correctly?"

Rouge looked down and flapped only to keep them aloft. Knuckles felt that Shadow's advice would be bad here, so instead, he snorted.

"Just keep flying, Rouge."

She looked worried, but obeyed. "We're here for you," she said softly. "You know that, right?"

"…Yes."

Rouge sighed and lowered them down to the ground as they reached Tails' lab. They leapt apart, and walked in. Tails was frantically typing at the computer.

"Tails," Knuckles greeted coolly.

Tails grunted as he reached out and grabbed a piece of paper. He scribbled two lines on it then held it out behind him as he resumed typing with his free hand.

"Here's two more Chaos Emeralds. Go find them as fast as you can. I've already sent Sonic and Knuckles out to get the blue and the silver. You're looking for the purple and the turquoise."

Knuckles silently grabbed the paper and read the locations.

"We'll have to go fast to get these," he said to Rouge and Omega.

"Affirmative," Omega replied.

"Fine with me," Rouge said.

They exited the lab. Knuckles grabbed Rouge's arm with one hand and held out his other arm for Omega to clamp down on. That done Knuckles took a deep breath then took off as fast as he could. He immediately felt strange dragging along two other people. Is this how Sonic and Shadow felt? He was careful not to drag them into anything.

"Rouge, check the paper," Knuckles said over the wind.

She took it out of her pocket and looked it over. "Casino Park is farthest. What say we go get the turquoise emerald then swing back by Metropolis?"

"Sounds fine to me. But it's a long way away and we have limited time."

Rouge shivered. "Fine. Go supersonic. But don't you dare let go!"

"Of course."

Knuckles was pushing the edge of supersonic, and he could feel the barrier of sound pushing against him. He quivered in anticipation then asked the question that Shadow always asked to prepare them.

"Ready?"

"Affirmative."

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Knuckles braced himself then sped up even faster, pushing against the barrier. It resisted for about three seconds then burst open, and there was a boom as he shot forward, faster than he had ever gone before. He couldn't help his gasp of delight as he raced toward Casino Park. His body was vibrating so fast! It was the freest feeling he'd ever felt, and he finally understood why Sonic and Shadow liked running so much. He smirked, glad that Omega and Rouge couldn't see him, and pushed himself faster and faster. He was going so fast that he nearly flew off a platform onto a pinball table. He caught himself at the very last second as Rouge gave a little scream. She sank down, looking ill.

"I hate going supersonic," she moaned.

Knuckles nodded, helping her up. "I know, but we had to get here quickly. We have to get to Metropolis quickly. And we have to get back quickly. Ergo, we must go supersonic two more times. You stay here with her, Omega. I hear Robotnik's robots, and she is in no state to fight."

"Robots will be terminated," Omega promised.

"Aw, so you do care," Rouge purred.

Knuckles turned away, waving dismissively. "I'll be back soon."

She laughed, settling down. "Oh, Shadow."

Dashing off alone, he dropped the act. Would he have to play a table to win the emerald? He hoped not. That could take forever, and his luck had never been as good as Sonic's. He linked up to Sonic and Shadow.

_"Hey, where would an emerald be in Casino park?"_

They paused in their climb to the top of a mountain. _"Try the BINGO Highways. Just don't fall off. It hurts when you do,"_ Sonic suggested.

 _"Yeah, it's probably off that ramp in the middle. You might have to play through a few times to get just the right speed and angle,"_ Shadow added as Knuckles began to head that way. _"We have to fight some kind of rock beast, from the sound of it. I think the emerald woke it up."_

_"Aw, no problem. You distract it while Sonic punches off its arms and legs. From there it should be easy."_

_"Good luck, Knux!"_ Sonic exclaimed as they began climbing again.

 _"Use Rouge and Omega, too. Don't go it alone,"_ Shadow instructed. _"If there's one thing Rouge knows, its how to get her hands on a Chaos Emerald, and Omega could give you a boost."_

_"She's a little out of sorts."_

_"Oh. Supersonic?"_

_"Yeah. I enjoyed it though. Man that was fun!"_

_"Told ya so!"_ Sonic boasted.

_"Punch that thing as hard as you can, and I'll show you a new kind of fun."_

_"_ Shadow?"

Sonic and Shadow immediately withdrew to a faint murmur, and Knuckles descended into character.

"What?"

"Are you okay?" Rouge asked worriedly.

It had worked before, so he reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Let's get to BINGO Highway."

She tugged against him. "No! You explain what's wrong! You're acting a little funny."

Knuckles pulled a Shadow. "I'm not explaining to either of you about Maria. So drop it if you know what's good for you!"

Rouge looked hurt at Knuckles' angry tone. She sniffled and stilled.

"Fine! Keep your secrets," she said, looking away. Knuckles didn't like her all that much, but he felt the desire to reach out and comfort her.

 _"No, Knuckles. Just get Omega and take off. It's better this way,"_ Shadow whispered from where he and Sonic were just finishing their climb.

Knuckles didn't agree with that at all, but he obeyed. Was Shadow really that heartless? He knew the answer to that. The red echidna had more heart than most people. He just didn't want it broken again. So Knuckles focused instead on getting the Chaos Emerald. That's what he had to do. But it didn't feel right at all.


	8. True Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red is black, black is blue, and blue is red. :)

"Well, we've got all but one, Tails," Shadow said, mimicking Sonic's energy. "So where's the last one?"

"Three guesses," Tails said darkly.

"Eggman," Knuckles said evenly, standing there with his arms crossed.

"Yep," Amy said, lightly swinging her hammer. "He snatched the green one right out from under our noses in Onyx. It's only a hundred miles away from here. We should have gone for that one first."

"I-I'm sorry, Sonic. I just didn't look for its energy signal until it was too late, and—" Tails started guiltily.

"Relax Tails," Sonic said with a chuckle. "We'll just have to _persuade_ Eggman to give us the emerald. No problem."

"Yeah! The party'll just be bigger, that's all!" Shadow laughed.

"Eggman must be terminated!" Omega said hotly, arming his machine gun.

"I'm sure you'll get your chance, Omega," Knuckles said with a nod. "Now, when do we go retrieve this emerald?"

"Well, unlike you, we actually need sleep," Tails said. "So I'd say tomorrow morning after breakfast. Sound good."

Shadow grumbled, but nodded. "Let's get to sleep then so we can get up early."

"I have dinner ready first," Tails said. "With lots of chilidogs," he said to Shadow as he smiled broadly.

"Alright! You read me like a data chip, Tails!" Shadow exclaimed, ribbing the fox, who laughed.

They walked to the table, and Shadow turned to Sonic. "I don't like chilidogs!" he hissed frantically.

"My body does. Go on and eat as much as you can. If you can't finish them, say we stopped by Tubby's before we came back here," Sonic whispered. "But if it's like me in this body, you'll find that you like whatever I do. Go for it."

They got to the table and the smell alone made Shadow's stomach growl hungrily. "Geez, I'm starving! Running really works up an appetite!" He blurred over and began to eat as fast as he could. Chilidogs for Sonic were, apparently, like cheeseburgers for him.

The smell of hot meat made Sonic gag. "Ugh, I hate those things!" he moaned.

"Don't worry, Knuckles, I've got a bowl of fruit and a salad for you," Tails assured him.

Sonic sat down and ate it gratefully as the others ate the meat. Knuckles just stood there staring at the burgers. Up to this point, he hadn't eaten meat yet, not even cheeseburgers, which he'd had a major craving for. Shadow and Sonic smiled to themselves and reached into his mind.

 _"The same applies for you, Knux,"_ Sonic said as he popped a grape into his mouth.

 _"Just eat it,"_ Shadow said. _"My body absolutely loves them, and so do my taste buds. Just try it."_

"Shadow?" Rouge asked, looking at Knuckles. "You going to eat?"

Knuckles shrugged and walked forward trepidaciously. To the outside viewer, he calmly picked up the burger and took a bite. Knuckles was internally cringing, waiting for his body to command him to spit it out...but it didn't happen. His stomach clenched hungrily and he took another bite. Oh, that was _heaven._ He went through five of them before he was full, but he did eat them neater than Shadow had eaten his chilidogs. When they were all full, they headed off to bed. Except for Shadow. He sat on the roof, staring up at the stars. He was emotionally exhausted. He wasn't used to _feeling_ so much. There was a soft noise behind him and his ear flicked as footsteps sounded out. Amy settled beside him.

"Beautiful night," she said softly.

"Yeah. Real pretty," Shadow replied.

"Romantic, too," she said shyly.

Shadow froze and turned to look at her. "What?" he asked, dropping the act completely in shock.

"Perfect night for a first kiss."

She leaned in close, but three inches from his face, he stopped her by placing two fingers on her lips.

"You don't want to do that."

"Of course I do! Why won't you love me, Sonic?" she asked, tearing up.

Shadow blinked and stared at the pink hedgehog. He figured Sonic was asleep already, so he couldn't ask. So he grabbed her hands and stared into her green eyes. He reached into Sonic's thoughts and feelings and spoke the truth.

"It isn't that I don't love you, Amy," he said softly. "It's that you're trying to smother me. I love being free, and the way you act, being in a relationship would tie me down. I'm not ready for that. I don't think I'll ever be ready for that. I don't want children. I don't want to be forced to stay in one spot. I want to run. I want to explore the world a thousand times over. I want to fight Robotnik and bring down his reign. I want to have fun!"

"But what about me? Where do I fit in?"

"Right by my side, swinging that hammer," Shadow said with a smile. "But you've got to understand. If you do want me, if we start dating—notice I said _if—_ I'm not going to settle down. I know you like horses. You know that stallion, Lightning Bolt?"

"Yeah?"

"Has anybody been able to tame him?"

"No, but he lets me ride him."

"So he allows you to?"

"Yeah. But he still does what he wants when I'm on his back."

"I'm like that horse. I might allow you to date me, but you won't tame me. You have to understand this, Amy. I'm wild and free, and I want to stay that way. But if you feel like joining in, that sounds pretty cool to me. You've got to stop smothering me, though. A real girl doesn't do the chasing. She lets herself be chased."

"But I can't run from you, Sonic," Amy said, looking away. "You'll catch me so quickly anyways."

Shadow laughed. "Aw, c'mon Amy. I might be fast, but it'll take a while to chase you down. You're quick in your own right, in ways that I, as a boy, can't get. How else could you keep finding me? But I think it'll be worth it. So what say we start a new game?"

Amy giggled, her cheeks warming in a blush. The joy faded and she sat back. "Do you really mean it, Sonic? I mean really? Or are you just tricking me again?"

"You want the truth?"

Shadow saw a flash of red in the corner of his eye. He could feel Sonic watching him carefully, waiting for his next words.

"I can swear that these are the true thoughts and feelings of Sonic the Hedgehog," he promised, "who just hasn't found time to slow down and tell you."

Amy studied him, narrowing her eyes. The two people who were not themselves waited for her verdict.

"Prove it," she finally said.

 _"Sonic?"_ Shadow asked, not looking at him.

_"Kiss her cheek. Once."_

Shadow tilted her chin up and pressed his lips to her cheek once, lingering for only a second. He pulled back and smiled at her. Her cheeks were bright red, and she giggled.

"You know, Sonic? I like when you play hard to get."

"Oh?" Shadow asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah. But…I like this you much better."

Sonic smiled at the admittance. He had always felt that way about Amy Rose. But he hadn't taken the time to slow down and tell her. He was afraid that she wouldn't like him slowed down. And he was scared of being trapped. He didn't like being trapped. But Shadow was giving him a break by telling her this stuff for him. He might never have had the courage to do so on his own. And that one thought of chasing instead of being chased. Oh, he always like a challenge, and catching and keeping a girl was supposed to be one of the hardest things in the universe. He relished the thought. But…he couldn't do anything to communicate that. Because he was Knuckles, not Sonic. It hurt that he couldn't be with Amy at the moment, and he really didn't want Shadow to do anything else with her. He would probably be uncomfortable, and she would be _pissed_ if, or maybe it was a when, she found out that it wasn't Sonic himself saying these things. He didn't like a pissed off Amy. Especially not in this particular body. He couldn't outrun her.

"Sorry to break up the lovefest," Sonic said, crossing his arms. "But we really need to get some sleep. Come on, Sonic. You're bunking with me and Tails. Amy, you're with Rouge."

"Ugh, really?" she asked irritably as they stood. "I don't like her."

"Why not?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know…She's just a…a bitch," Amy muttered.

Shadow stopped walking. Amy and Sonic turned to look at him. His disapproving stare was burning into Amy, who started to blush.

"I didn't mean to curse, Sonic," she said softly. "I just couldn't find a way to express myself any other way."

"Yes…well don't do it again," Shadow muttered as he headed down to the room with Sonic. They dropped Amy off then walked slowly to their room. Shadow turned to complain to Sonic about what Amy had said, but Sonic shook his head.

 _"Do_ not _say anything out loud about it, Shadow. There are cameras and microphones everywhere in here. We are not safe."_

_"Damn it, Rouge is not a bitch, Sonic!"_

_"I know that now. She's just misunderstood. But you can't let Tails hear you. It will be a dead giveaway."_

Shadow thought of the foulest list of curses he could, and Sonic laughed heartily as the door to their room opened. They stopped. Knuckles was standing there, staring at them coolly.

"Hey, Shadow. What's up?" Shadow asked cheerfully.

"I am in need of a bed. Tails forgot about where I would be sleeping."

"I said I was sorry, Shadow. Just sleep in here with us!" Tails said.

"…No."

"Come on, I don't have any other rooms prepared!"

"Yeah, c'mon, Shadow. We're just going to sleep, and I can guarantee you that we won't try anything," Shadow said then added mentally. _"It is so weird to say my own name like that."_

 _"Amen to that,"_ Sonic replied then spoke out loud. "I won't let them mess with you."

"Fine. But one trick, and I won't help you. You can deal with Fear on your own. Without my Chaos Emerald. Or Rouge's," Knuckles said firmly. "Now, where do I sleep?"

He was led to a bed and given two pillows and a blanket. He paused and looked back before crawling into bed and stilling. _"I want to take off my gloves and shoes."_

 _"Not a good idea,"_ Sonic said. _"Even I don't do that and we're best friends. To have what he thinks is Shadow do it? No."_

 _"You're just going to have to sleep with them on,"_ Shadow said. _"I don't relish the thought, either, but we have no choice."_

Tails was actually the first one asleep, as the others struggled to get past the discomfort. Even Sonic was having trouble, despite the fact that he had successfully done it for years. Eventually, exhaustion swept them away one by one, starting with the emotionally drained Shadow and ending with the excited Sonic, who couldn't wait to see how hard he could hit the robots that were surely waiting for him the next day.


	9. The Ol' Switcheroo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Black is blue, blue is red, and red is black. And you must keep this in mind: as crazy as the doctor is, Eggman is a bonafide genius.

They did so.

"What?" Sonic demanded harshly, glaring at the black hedgehog.

"They're not fighting back," Knuckles replied.

"They're…not…" Shadow murmured, looking around. The robots were all looking at them, but did not move to attack. He marched up to one. "Where is Robotnik?"

"Computer room. Take corridor C to the second right turn, fifteen doors down on the left," the robot intoned.

The fact that they got an answer was surprising enough. Out of all the robots Eggman had ever created, only Omega had been known to talk. But to have the robot willingly tell him where the doctor was? Something was seriously, seriously wrong. They followed the robot's instructions and burst into the room where about fifty robots stood. Eggman spun to look at them, a look of abject terror on his face for a brief moment before relaxing.

"You brought them?" he asked.

"What are you playing at, Robotnik?" Shadow demanded.

Eggman paused for a brief moment, studying the blue hedgehog as if confused then turned to the computer.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Sonic, we must work together. Going looking for that thing was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. We must reseal it before it kills again. It followed me here and I've managed to contain it."

"Why would you want to stop it from killing again?" Sonic demanded, crossing his arms.

He again paused and studied the red echidna; that made the three pretenders start to get nervous. "Because nobody should have to die that way. Not even Sonic."

The heroes studied the man for a while until, with slow trepidation, Shadow approached.

"Fine, Robotnik. We'll do it to save the world. But after this, we're enemies again. Agreed?"

The man studied him, and their nervousness increased. He turned to Sonic and tilted his head. "So where are the emeralds? You've got the Master Emerald, right?"

"Show us your Chaos Emerald first!" Knuckles said hotly. He was turned toward and studied as well. The doctor gave a laugh then turned to Sonic.

"Well, Sonic, you are in quite the pickle!"

The others were confused. "Why are you talking to Knuckles like that?" Tails asked.

"Because he, Shadow, and Sonic have had the old switcheroo done on them!" Eggman replied gleefully.

"Liar!" Amy spat, linking arms with Shadow. "I would know if this wasn't Sonic!"

"Tell me this. Have the three of them been acting strangely? It doesn't have to be big things. All three of them know each other well enough to fake it for a while. But little things."

"Like what?" Rouge demanded.

Omega buzzed. "Only Shadow refers to Eggman as Robotnik," he intoned, staring steadily at Shadow. "Everybody else calls him Eggman."

Rouge froze, her mouth parting as she tried to find something to say. She suddenly spun to Knuckles, glaring hotly. "What is my middle name?"

"…"

"Come on!"

"Do we give up?" Sonic asked miserably.

"Yes," came the reluctant answer.

Rouge stormed up and looked ready to hit him.

"Well? What's my middle name?"

Shadow dashed over as she moved to slap him. "If I told them your middle name, you would cut my heart out, Rouge."

"Not that we don't know it," Sonic said, casually leaning back against a machine and smiling. "But don't blame him for that. We're linked mentally. We can share thoughts. Memories. Emotions."

"Yes," Knuckles replied with a growl as he dashed over to stand beside Sonic. "And Fear didn't give us much of a choice in learning it. Trust me when I tell you that we know everything about each other."

There was dead silence for a good minute. Eggman suddenly began laughing. He laughed until tears were streaking down his face.

"What's so funny, Doc?" Sonic demanded, eyes narrowed.

"Sonic, my nemesis and the thorn in my side, is no longer the fastest thing in the universe!"

Sonic felt his cheeks warm and he stormed up to Eggman. "No. But I am the strongest, so if you don't want to end up with a broken everything you might want to shut that mouth of yours!"

That certainly shut the man up, and he turned back to the computer. "Right. Back to business. Knuckles, you brought the Master Emerald?"

Knuckles held out his hands and Sonic pulled it out of subspace and tossed it to him. "I've got it right here."

"And the six emeralds?"

"Where's yours?" Sonic demanded.

Eggman typed in a code and a panel opened up in the console of the computer. He pulled out the green emerald. "Now where are yours?"

Everybody looked to Knuckles as Amy said. "We gave them to Shadow for safe keeping…Or whoever that is."

"Knuckles, Amy," said being commented dryly as he waved his hand and the other six gems floated in front of him. "Now how are we doing this?"

"Well…somebody has to bring the eight emeralds into the chamber where Fear is and activate them," Eggman said.

"And let me guess," Sonic asked with a snort. "You volunteer."

"No."

Everybody blinked. "Really?" Tails asked incredulously.

"Oh ho!" Sonic said cheerfully as Knuckles and Shadow sidled up to join them, grinning just as wide as the red echidna. "Fear almost gotcha, didn't he?" Eggman looked away, and Sonic laughed heartily. "Ooh, what did he show the big bad doctor to make him so scared?"

"…Nothing."

"Quite some nothing if little bitty Robotnik is refusing to wield the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald together," Shadow laughed, startling everybody there.

"We still need a volunteer," Eggman grumbled. "So who's it going to be?"

"I'll do it!" Amy and Rouge said at the same time.

"No!" the two hedgehogs and the echidna screeched at the same time.

"Rouge," Shadow said seriously. "I will not let you go near that thing."

"Why not? Am I not tough enough?"

"That's not it, Rouge," Sonic said with a head shake.

"Then I'll go," Amy said.

"No, Amy," Sonic said firmly.

"So I'm not tough enough?" she asked angrily.

"That is not the reason!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Then what is?" they both asked.

They went silent, glaring at them. Sonic finally stirred. "How do you think we switched bodies?"

Eggman frowned. "Fear? How did he do that?"

There was more silence then Tails stepped forward.

"That thing. The one in Eggman's old workshop. That was Fear, wasn't it?"

"Yes," they answered at the same time.

"What happened?" Eggman asked. When the three beings glared at him, he shrugged. "I might be able to help. I do have an IQ of 300."

"Fear touched us. Things happened. When we woke up, we were in our own bodies," Sonic said, looking away.

"But we felt strange," Shadow said. "About two weeks later, we woke up again. But we weren't in our own bodies."

Knuckles stared at the Master Emerald in his hands, weighing his words carefully; there were things he wanted to say that had to be run through his 'protect Tikal and M.E.' filter. "The Master Emerald has been trying to help us get back into our own bodies, but it turns out that we have somehow taken some of Fear's magic inside of us. It is just as old and as powerful as the Master Emerald, so it cannot tamper with us, though that sort of thing should be easy for it."

"Wait a second!" Eggman exclaimed loudly. "What do you mean Fear touched you?"

"Fear touched us," Sonic said. "It's as simple as that. Nothing more, nothing less."

"That is not simple, Sonic!" Eggman said fiercely. "In the whole history of recorded time, not one person, animal or human, has ever lived after being touched by Fear! Ever! Has the Master Emerald determined how this happened?"

"No…" Sonic said slowly. "Did you two know that?"

"No," Knuckles said.

"M.E. didn't explain it like that," Shadow murmured.

They felt the stares of everybody on them as they spoke, staring at the floor. Eggman gathered the Chaos Emeralds and gave them to Sonic and Shadow.

"You three are the only ones who even have a chance to get out of that chamber alive. Just know, Sonic, that if you die, this is not how I wanted it to end. I would rather have ended you myself."

Sonic hated the seriousness of the situation, so he smirked at his arch-enemy. "Aw c'mon, Eggman. Do you honestly think that thing could kill me? Even you can't do that, and you're a lot worse!"

Everybody who wasn't going into the chamber laughed too hard, including Eggman, but all of them, especially the three that were going into the chamber, knew that it wasn't really that funny. Eggman led them down the hall to a door.

"Inside you will find another door. The code to this one is Alpha, Beta, Epsilon, Alpha, Omicron, Xi, Zeta. The next door is a color pattern. Blue, red and yellow on the right, and black, white, and red on the left. The third door you will get to is different. You must activate a Chaos Emerald to get through it. You will be sucked through the door and will appear on the other side. Until Fear is contained, the door will not open. You will be stuck in there with the creature. Do you understand?"

They nodded. Sonic swallowed. "So what did Fear show you? Me beating you?"

Eggman frowned, looking away. "Why do you care?"

Sonic shrugged and looked down. "I don't know."

Eggman hesitated then reached up to take off his glasses to reveal small blue eyes.

"You have your grandfather's eyes," Shadow said with a nod.

Eggman softened a bit. "Thanks. I miss him."

"When did he die?"

"Oh, he's still alive, and hasn't aged much. But he doesn't know who I am most of the time. I visit sometimes."

Shadow nodded. "Maybe I could visit sometime. I would like to say goodbye to the man who made me."

Eggman nodded. "That would be nice." He paused. "What was my cousin like?"

Shadow swallowed. "Maria?"

"Yeah."

The blue hedgehog took a deep breath. "She was the smartest, kindest, sweetest, most beautiful person I have ever met. She always had a smile, always saw the brightness of life, even when she was shaking in pain. I miss her greatly. I'm sorry that I couldn't save her. You would have been able to meet her."

"Grandfather raves about her."

"He loved her dearly. She was the light of his life. I can't remember how, but he changed my memories to make me think that Maria's last wish was to get revenge on the humans for her death. But Amy helped me remember what she really said."

"What did she say?" Eggman asked.

"Doc, this is a touchy subject," Sonic said to spare Shadow, but Shadow shook his head.

"If there is anybody in this world who deserves to know, it is Robotnik," Shadow said firmly. "When she spoke, she was in pain. She was shot through the chest. I remember very clearly the blood spreading out on her shirt, staining the blue with red. Then she spoke and I met her eyes for the last time."

There was a long pause so Eggman said softly, "And?"

Shadow felt his bottom lip tremble and tears slipped down his cheeks, but his voice was steady. "'Shadow I beg of you, please do it for me...for a better future! For all the people who live on that planet...Give them a chance to be happy...Let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason why you were brought into this world. Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog.'"

Eggman's face pinched, and he looked away. He clearly didn't know what to say. Sonic and Knuckles were surprised to see tears in the human's eyes. He leaned against the wall and covered his face with one of his hands. Sonic walked over and touched him lightly.

"Eggman? You okay?"

"No."

Sonic paused. "Why do you constantly try to take over the world?"

Eggman lowered his hand. "Because in a moment of lucidity my Grandfather ordered me to make people pay for what they did to Maria. So that's what I try to do. And don't think that will ever change, Sonic."

Sonic nodded. "I can understand that. But don't you think that I'll stop foiling your plans."

"Then we're agreed," Eggman said.

"Yes."

They stood there awkwardly for a minute then Sonic took a deep breath. "Well, we best get in there."

"Yes. Of course."

Eggman walked away, but turned to them before he went around the corner. "I saw my grandfather. He burst into flames, and screamed at me to get revenge for Maria. Then he laughed. That was what got me. He laughed, and it was so deranged and scary. I knew he would never be lucid again, and that terrified me. So I ran."

He stood there for about ten seconds then left them alone. They took in the information then looked at each other.

"Are we really going to do this?" Knuckles asked numbly. Sonic nodded.

Shadow sighed. "If this is goodbye, I want you two to know that there is nobody else I would rather be linked to. It's been…fun."

Sonic smiled. "Ditto."

Knuckles nodded then they turned to the door. Shadow input the code and it opened to reveal a short hallway. There were no windows and only one door on the other end of it. It looked secure. They stepped through and the first door slammed shut behind them, and they heard a pressurized lock seal it into place. There was no going back. There was no keypad to put the code back in. They walked to the second door and Knuckles arranged the color code. The door opened. They went through to find a slightly longer hallway with another door at the end. They swallowed as the door sealed behind them, and slowly walked forward to stand in front of the last door. Sonic brought forth the silver Chaos Emerald, looked at his companions, then activated it. There was a sucking sensation and they stood in the room. Black eyes settled on them and a growl sounded out when it saw the Chaos Emerald.

"You think to contain me again?"

"Yes," Shadow said tossing his emeralds in the air. Sonic did the same as Knuckles brought forth the Master Emerald and expanded it to its normal size. The Chaos Emeralds activated then began charging as the Master Emerald floated into the center of the circle.

Knuckles knelt down and folded his hands. "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos."

The Master Emerald flashed and linked all seven Chaos Emeralds. The large green gem flashed and began charging, too. Knuckles stood and frowned.

"Why aren't you attacking us?"

"What is wrong with you three?" Fear asked, ignoring the question.

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"To put it in a way that you could understand, you do not appear to be edible. I have never come across something that produced such a foul flavor. Your emotions are delightful, and all of them are so strong. Your sadness was a good drink. Your pain, a delicious crunch. Your anger added a nice spice. Your shame made everything nice and hot. But the best part was your hatred. All three of you possess true hatred, such a rare thing, and it was the perfect dessert, nice and rich. However, when your minds had started slipping, I attempted to decompose your bodies. But all the good flavors were suddenly overrun by a terrible taste. I stopped and tried you each one by one to see if it was better. It was not. All of you tasted bad in a different way. Your emotions were still feeding me, but they stopped tasting good. They had turned sour, which morphed into bitterness. I struggled to maintain my grip on you, but I finally had to spit you out as your minds returned full force. When you left me, you stole a small fraction of my power. I want it back."

"What does it matter to you?" Knuckles asked. "You're going to be contained in ten minutes."

"You are not good enough to have my power. If I take it back, you should return to your normal states. Then I will go quietly."

They glanced at each other then looked up at the Master Emerald.

"What say you, M.E.? Will it work?" Sonic asked.

Tikal appeared on the ground and studied the dark creature. It had the form of a great wolf, and it didn't move.

"Don't even think about it," Knuckles warned.

"Peace, Knuckles. I couldn't if I wanted to. She is protected by the Master Emerald," Fear said distastefully.

Tikal ignored him completely and turned to face them. "It should work."

"Thank you, Princess," Knuckles said politely.

"I shall monitor, child of black," she said, moving to the side and crossing her arms.

"How does this work?"

"You must touch me," Fear said simply.

"That's it?" Shadow asked.

"That should suffice."

They nodded and approached, each holding out their right hand. Fear melted into a black mass and dashed over to them, wrapping tendrils around their wrists. There was a pull toward him that wasn't physical followed by white hot pain.


	10. Ugh, what Happened?

Shadow took a long, deep breath as he became aware he had a body. But which body was it? He had to know. So he slowly sat up, every single muscle in his body protesting loudly. He opened his eyes and looked down.

"Damn it," he muttered as he stared at the peach and blue fur.

"Oh. So you're still Shadow. Or are you Knuckles now?" Amy asked.

Shadow turned to see her sitting beside his bed, a book in her lap.

"Shadow," he said hoarsely then coughed hard. He was handed a glass of water, which he drained in ten seconds. "Thank you."

"No problem." She paused and looked down. "Shadow, I have a question. I need to ask while it's just us."

"What is it?"

"Those things you said to me up on the roof that night. I don't know what to think of it."

"That's not a question, Amy."

"Shadow, please," Amy begged, her eyes holding vulnerability.

He nodded, understanding what she needed. "Do you remember what I promised to you that night?"

"Not really."

"I said to you, 'I can swear that these are the true thoughts and feelings of Sonic the Hedgehog, who just hasn't found time to slow down and tell you.' I meant that Amy. And Sonic was standing right there watching us. He told me to kiss you. I did it only because you thought I was him, which was also the only reason he told me to do so. He loves you, Amy. He loves you dearly. But all those things I said were Sonic's thoughts and Sonic's feelings. I should know. I've had to live his life twice. You've got to believe me, Amy."

"I don't know what to believe anymore," the pink hedgehog said brokenly.

"Then believe _me_ , Ames," said a weak voice as Sonic sat up, still in Knuckles' body. "I really do love you. I'm just a big coward who couldn't tell you because I thought if I did, you wouldn't want me anymore."

Amy stood and approached him. "Promise?"

Sonic smiled warmly, pulling her close to kiss her cheek. "Promise."

She blushed. "I'm going to hold you to that, Sonic the Echidna!" she teased.

"Ugh. Don't remind me," Sonic muttered.

"So I'm still Shadow, right?" Knuckles growled, sitting up.

"Unfortunately," Sonic replied.

"Great. Just great," Knuckles snarled, crossing his arms moodily.

"I'll go get Tails. You need food," Amy said, squeezing Sonic's hand.

They lay back down, waiting for their nourishment. Tails, Amy, Rouge, and Omega came in, the three organics carrying food. Tails brought Knuckles a bowl fruit. Shadow was given two cheeseburgers, while Sonic was given two chilidogs. Knuckles smiled.

"I appreciate the thought, but Sonic cannot eat that. He'll throw up. Give him the fruit."

"Yes," Shadow said. "And give Knuckles the burgers. I'll take the chilidogs."

They were met with confused stares. "But…that's not like you at all, Sonic. And Knuckles eating meat?" Tails said in surprise.

"I know. But this isn't my body," Sonic sighed wistfully. "This is Knuckles' body. And Knuckles' body has asserted very clearly that it will not eat meat of any kind, on threat of a violent purge. So give me the stupid fruit."

Tails slowly approached and handed the bowl to Sonic, who immediately plucked up a grape and popped it in his mouth. He very clearly enjoyed it.

"On the plus side, fruits and vegetables taste absolutely amazing to me now. Even carrots," Sonic said lightly.

"But you _hate_ carrots!" the yellow fox gasped.

"I know. But not in this body. Knuckles is more weirded out than I am though."

"Why?" Amy asked.

Knuckles harrumphed. "Because I actually ate meat. Ugh," he groaned. "But it tasted wonderful! I don't know what to believe anymore."

"I don't like chilidogs," Shadow stated quietly. "Yet they were quite good."

There were more stares of confusion even as the different foods were given to the proper body. Silence reigned as they ate then their temperatures were taken. Tails frowned.

"It's too high. For all of you. Way too high. I'm surprised you're not delirious."

"Eh, we could be," Sonic said with a shrug. "Because I feel absolutely fine."

"That _is_ a little strange," Shadow murmured, looking at himself. "Knuckles? Any ideas?"

Knuckles looked down, frowning. "We'll have to ask Tikal and the Master Emerald. We need to get to Angel Island."

"Is it imperative?" Tails asked.

"Yes. The Master Emerald will know what to do," the black hedgehog declared then added mentally to Shadow and Sonic, _"I hope."_

They nodded and moved to stand, but they were all grabbed and forced back down. Sonic batted Amy's hands away.

"What is wrong with you?" he demanded.

"Not one of you is to do anything until I pinpoint Angel Island and get the transporter ready," Tails said firmly. "And that is an order!"

He was met with three dark glares, but he ignored them and gestured for the others to follow. The yellow fox lingered in the doorway for a moment as Knuckles asked a question.

"Can we at least talk?"

"Sure," Tails said with a smile then shut the door.

"So…" Sonic said, sitting up with a grin. "What are we going to talk about?"

"Oh…nothing in particular," Knuckles chuckled.

Shadow smirked and they bowed their heads, their thoughts syncing up as they 'talked' to the Master Emerald. _"M.E.? We are awake and have questions for you. If you would be so kind as to beam us up to you, we would be grateful. Thank you."_

There was a buzz and when they opened their eyes, they sat in front of the great green gem. They attempted to stand so they could approach, but they found out in less than three seconds why Tails had ordered them down. They were in some serious pain whenever they attempted to stand. Their legs didn't feel strong enough to support their weight, not even Knuckles' body with his immense strength or Shadow's body with his increased healing factor. And after they fell to the ground, their arms gave way when they tried to stop from hitting the dirt. They lay there in pain, trembling hard and whimpering. Warm, green light surrounded them and they were levitated and brought over to lay beneath the large jewel. Tentacles of light attached to their chests, and they were drawn into the relieving bliss of the emerald.

 _"Easy there,"_ Tikal said softly. _"You three should not move too much. Even if it has been two weeks, your bodies still have not recovered."_

 _"Two weeks? We've been unconscious for two weeks, Princess?"_ Knuckles asked, horrified.

There was silence. The Master Emerald finally spoke directly to them.

_"She is reluctant to say what I am about to tell you. You three have been out of commission for two weeks and three days. But I am afraid you have not been unconscious the whole time. You each raved like madmen for about two hundred hours total in that time, swearing and cursing at those who tried to help you. You threatened their lives and their families' lives if they laid their hands on you. You bit and punched and kicked when they tried to strap you down. The hedgehogs were too fast for them to catch, and the echidna was much too strong to be tied. You utterly destroyed all of the equipment Tails brought in that he was going to use to help you. You destroyed every piece of technology you could get your hands on in that lab. Everything is decimated. Tails has started to rebuild, but it is slow going, because only seven hours ago, you destroyed everything again."_

Sonic sobbed hard and covered his face. _"No! Not his lab! Oh, by the emeralds' power, what have I done?!"_

 _"No, Sonic,"_ Shadow said soothingly. _"You were not alone in this. We all did it."_

 _"Wow,"_ Knuckles said numbly. _"Tails has nothing now. Nothing. Wait…What about the Tornado?"_

Sonic hiccupped as the Master Emerald replied. _"I am afraid that you three destroyed it. And all of the plans that he had from each one he'd built. He has to start from scratch. Luckily, his large transporter plane was somewhere else, so he still has it."_

They went silent as they cried. Sonic's pain was greater than what they felt, but their minds were linked so intimately that his pain was their own. Tikal sang songs to them to try and help them curb the torrent of feelings. The Master Emerald filled them with warm pulses as it tried to ease their hurt in its own way. They cried themselves out about an hour later then just lay there basking in the emerald's power. There was a pulse that was different from the ones it had used to comfort them, and they were shocked as their own bodies sent out pulses in response.

 _"Oh, yes."_ The Master Emerald was clearly pleased.

 _"M.E.,"_ Tikal said warningly. _"This is not the time to experiment."_

_"But I want to."_

_"Then ask for permission first. They are tired and weak and hurt. If they say no, I want you to wait until they are ready."_

_"Very well, my love. I shall do as you wish. Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow?"_

_"Yes?"_ they asked.

_"I wish to experiment with the magic you possess. Do I have your permissions?"_

_"Magic?"_ Sonic asked blankly. _"We still have magic?"_

_"Yes, you do, Sonic."_

Knuckles and Shadow were just as confused and their minds asked the same question. _"But Fear took it back, right?"_

There was silence for a minute. _"I do believe they have repressed the memories, my love,"_ the Master Emerald said thoughtfully.

 _"I am not too surprised. They were in more pain individually than has been felt by any being in many, many, many ages,"_ Tikal said gravely.

_"The question remains, should I help them to remember?"_

_"They will relive it. But I suppose it is their decision."_

_"Would you like to remember?"_

_"I want to know what's going on, great one,"_ Knuckles said solemnly.

 _"Same here,"_ Shadow replied.

 _"Help us, M.E.,"_ Sonic implored.

 _"Very well. Relax and I shall start it out."_ The Master Emerald paused then brought back the last thing they remembered.

 _They nodded and approached, each holding out their right hand. Fear melted into a black mass and dashed over to them, wrapping tendrils around their wrists._ _There was a pull toward him that wasn't physical followed by white hot pain._ Then came the forgotten. _They screamed and could barely hear Tikal ordering Fear off of them. To their horror, he screamed that he_ couldn't _get off of them. There was a tug of war going on, and every time the three linked beings began losing, there was a feeling that they were being peeled apart. They fought in a brief eternity with Fear, who was crying out just as loudly as they were. There was a burst of energy that suddenly went through them, sending the agony up by ten notches at least. And it steadily increased afterward as burst after burst of energy passed through them._

 _"_ Do not give up!" _the Master Emerald roared into their minds._ "It will be over soon! He is weakening!"

_"No!" Fear barked. "I will not die like this!"_

"You have no choice, you foul beast! Together they are stronger than you!"

_"No!" Fear shrieked, tugging as hard as he could._

_They felt stretched to the limit, but then whatever it was ricocheted off of something and slammed into them with more force than even Knuckles could ever hope to achieve. The pain reached a level that none of them had ever experienced, so hot and all-encompassing that they all prayed earnestly for death. There was a scream from Fear and then…it was over. They sank to the cool ground and lay there, hardly able to breathe, let alone think. There was an almighty bang as the Chaos Emeralds scattered, phasing through the walls and hiding themselves again. The Master Emerald floated down, hovering above them. They couldn't see this even though their eyes were open, but they knew it from the gentle pulses flowing through them._

"Rest. Rest, my precious ones. You have done well. I shall go home. You will find me there when you wake."

_There was a pop and the emerald's power was gone from the room. They heard a sliding noise then Amy's voice rang out, calling Sonic's name. One of their bodies was touched, though which one, they weren't sure. They heard the female hedgehog crying._

_"They're dead! They're dead!"_

_"No they're not!" Tails exclaimed. "Look, they're still breathing! We have to get them back to my lab!"_

_Eggman spoke. "I will give you a transporter to get them there. It hovers, so there should be minimal jostling."_

_"Why are you still helping us?" the yellow fox asked suspiciously._

_"They day is not over. For the moment, we are still allies."_

_"Alright, Mr. 300 IQ. What just happened?" Rouge demanded._

_"Yeah!" Amy growled. "That thing was here one second and gone the next."_

_"I don't know for sure," Eggman replied. "But I have a thought-out guess."_

_"What is it?" Omega queried. "This whole situation does not compute."_

_"Because you are not programmed to fully understand magic," Eggman replied. "You heard Fear say that they stole his magic, correct?"_

_"Yeah," Tails said. "So?"_

_"Well, enough time has passed that the magic had settled into their bodies. It took on their ideals, not Fear's, so when Fear tried to reclaim his magic, it resisted him because of the absolute opposite end differences. Then the magic recognized itself and tried to fully inhabit either Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow or Fear. I assume that it was painful, as they were all screaming bloody murder. Fear was not strong enough to gather all his magic back, or even disconnect from the three of them. His magic was an intimate part of his being. Take it all away, and you have no more Fear. His body became a part of the magic and was sucked inside of them. So they now contain a massive amount of ancient, powerful magic." Eggman paused. "But that's just a guess."_

_"Will they wake up?" Amy asked._

_There was silence then Eggman sighed. "I don't know. If that's really what happened, there are two options. The magic will settle inside of them and become a part of them, or they will die from the overwhelming quantity of power. The chances of both are equal, as they absorbed the other part of magic with ease, though it had a few side effects. However, it is just as likely that they will die. That much magic is staggering. Physical bodies, even those as gifted as the three of theirs are, were not made to contain that much raw power at all, let alone from as violent a transference as that. Flip a coin. Heads they live, tails they die. It's up in the air at this point. Now, if they live, they're going to need medical attention. Monitor their heartrates closely, and their temperatures, too. They will have fevers then chills. They will be delirious if they become conscious. Take care of my arch-enemy, Tails. If anybody's going to kill him, it will be me."_

_"Sonic wouldn't have it any other way, Doc," Tails said, his voice holding a smile. "Now, Omega, get Shadow. Doc, grab Knuckles. Amy and I will carry Sonic."_

_They were picked up simultaneously, and they felt their stomachs clench as pain shot through them. There were cries of disgust, but the ones carrying them continued to move. Several steps in, the pain overwhelmed them and they lost consciousness._

The three beings gasped as they came out of it, shivering. The Master Emerald was there to soothe them. They lay there and regulated their breathing for a good five minutes then sighed.

 _"Wow,"_ Sonic said quietly. _"I…I don't know what to say about that."_

 _"How about 'ouch'?"_ Shadow asked with a grin.

 _"Seems appropriate,"_ Knuckles said with a chuckle. He then grew serious. _"So how does this magic affect us, M.E.?"_

The Master Emerald pulsed gently as it answered. _"I am not sure. Which is why I want to experiment. If you let me do this, I will not harm you physically. Not on purpose, at least. I will only try a few things now to sate my curiosity until you heal and are ready for more involved tests. Do I have your permissions?"_

Knuckles nodded. _"Just be gentle. I hurt, M.E. I hurt a lot."_

Sonic and Shadow agreed, so the Master Emerald gave that one pulse again. They returned the pulse. It pulsed twice. They did the same. Then the patterns started, and they grew increasingly complicated with each one repeated. They had just echoed a pattern that took an hour to go through just repeating it—the original had taken an hour as well—when the Master Emerald stopped.

_"I am satisfied for now, my little ones. Tails, Rouge, Omega, and Amy are approaching on foot. They shall be here in a few minutes."_

_"What was the point of that?"_ Knuckles asked. _"I mean, I know you have one, M.E., and I don't want to be rude in asking, but I'm curious and—"_

The Master Emerald cut in. _"There is no need for that, Knuckles. I know you respect me. There is no reason for you to explain yourself. I know your intentions with each thing that you think, do, and say. Do not feel as if you need to tell me."_

 _"Yes, great one,"_ Knuckles thought, embarrassment broadcasting through the link. _"So what was the point of that?"_

_"Your magic is amazingly powerful. Just as powerful as mine. If it was weaker, it would have missed at least one pulse from that last round. It did not. The pattern was replicated perfectly. I will be pleased to teach you about your magic. But it will take time to master. Now, I shall be quiet and let your friends tend to you."_

True to its word, the Master Emerald went silent just as they were spotted by the yellow fox. They were picked up by Omega, one by one, and deposited on the beds that were still there from before the adventure began. Tails checked their temperatures and looked surprised.

"Wow. They're only at about a hundred right now. They've gone down."

"Yay," Sonic said then yawned.

"Did the Master Emerald help?" Rouge asked Shadow, stroking his head gently.

"Yes."

"What did it tell you?"

"It renewed our memories from when we fought Fear," Knuckles said softly. "And it revealed to us that we have the magic of Fear inside of us. It wants to train us to use it, which means we're going to be on Angel Island for a while."

"Oh. Okay."

Tails frowned. "I don't care what it wants at the moment. You three are in no condition to be trained in anything!"

"It will wait, Tails," Sonic assured him.

"It better," the yellow fox muttered.

There was a musical feminine laugh as Tikal solidified and walked toward them. Their caretakers didn't seem surprised, which was…surprising.

"Why are you not surprised?" Knuckles asked.

"We saw her appear when you were in that room," Rouge said, studying the female echidna.

"How?"

"Eggman had tiny cameras in there, and we watched the whole thing go down," Tails said with a nod. "So this is Tikal?"

"Yes," Knuckles said. "Touch her and I will end you."

Tikal laughed again, skipping over to Knuckles. "Well, my dear child of black, how are you going to do that?"

"I will find a way."

Tails smiled at her. "You're pretty."

"Thank you. You are brilliant," Tikal replied.

Tails blushed. "Thank you."

"What am I?" Rouge asked, crossing her arms.

"Devious and alluring."

"And me?" Amy asked as the bat beamed.

"You, my dear hedgehog, are in love."

Amy laughed. "True!"

Tikal looked serious. "You must know this, though. If you marry Sonic, you are marrying all three of them. That is not to say that they will have the same privileges as your mate, but their minds will never be fully separate again. You must get to know all three of them quite well before you make your decision. Is this understood?"

Amy looked around at them. "If they're Sonic's friends, I will get to know them, too."

"Good. Now, I am here to help you and the others communicate with the Master Emerald. M.E. states that three," she looked at Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow, "are to sleep. You need it."

"Yes, Princess," Knuckles said tiredly.

"Wait!" Sonic said, his voice wavering. "Tails?"

"Yeah?"

"I…We're sorry about what we did to your lab. I know it was your life. We…It was…"

Tails' expression softened. "Sonic, let me tell you something. I love my inventions. I love my computer. I love my machines. But I love you more. You are much more important than any silly machine. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Even the tears. Because through them I saw the truth of what I just told you. Don't any of you worry about it one second more. I can rebuild what you destroyed. But I can't rebuild you."

"You're awesome Tails," Sonic sighed, closing his eyes as he was sucked into sleep. Shadow and Knuckles followed, and they all had smiles on their faces.


	11. A New Normal

The blue hedgehog walked into Tails' lab, strolling up to the busy fox and standing there silently. Tails turned around and jumped violently, dropping his tools.

"Shadow! Don't do that! How many times do I have to tell you?" the yellow fox grumbled, kneeling down to pick up his tools.

"Well, Tails old buddy, you haven't told me that one single time, now have you?" the hedgehog asked with a grin.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, jerking his head up and gawking. He leaped to his feet, dropping everything he'd picked up, and stared hard at the blue hedgehog. "Is-is it really you?"

"Of course it is!" Sonic laughed. "Now, I'll explain everything over at Tubby's. There's two things I want real bad. One, to break the sound barrier, and two, a plateful of my favorite chilidogs! Shadow went to get Rouge and Omega. Amy took Knuckles over there earlier this morning so they could get a private room for us."

"You're serious!" Tails suddenly shouted loudly as he burst into tears and embraced Sonic. Sonic held him, shushing him gently.

"Yeah, Tails. I'm serious," he said softly. "I'm me again. I am. And we're going to tell you everything we can."

Tails didn't calm down for a good ten minutes. Sonic looked around in that short time, grimacing at how little there was on the shelves. Tails pulled back and caught the expression before Sonic could hide it. The fox frowned and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, Sonic. You're alive and well, and you're _you_ again. That's all I care about. Honest."

Sonic smiled. "You're the best Tails. Now let's go."

Tails held out his arm and Sonic took it, walking outside. He paused by the door, looking at his best friend.

"I'm definitely going supersonic. I haven't gone fast on my own in months, so this is going to be fun for me. Tell me if you need me to slow down. Okay?"

"Why didn't you run here?"

"I wanted to do it with you, of course," Sonic replied with a smile. "That's all. Is that weird?"

"No! Not at all! I'm glad you waited. I'd love to do this with you."

"Ready?"

"You know it, Sonic! Hit it!"

Sonic bounced a few times then grinned and zoomed forward. He set a new record on how fast he got to the edge of the sound barrier, and he knew it. He didn't even ask Tails if he was ready; he was too excited. He just tore through it and relished the _boom_ he got from the action. Then he pushed himself faster. They got to the restaurant quicker than ever before, and Sonic slowed gradually to help Tails acclimate. The yellow fox sank to his knees, breathing hard.

"Wow, Sonic!" he exclaimed breathlessly. "That was _incredible_! I don't know if you've ever let me go that fast with you before!"

"Sorry," Sonic said guiltily. "I didn't mean to—"

"Aw, can it, Sonic," Knuckles said from the doorway, smirking and crossing his arms. "He clearly enjoyed it. Relax."

"Knuckles! Is it really you?" Tails asked excitedly, standing up and staggering over to embrace the red echidna.

"Yeah, Tails. It's me," Knuckles chuckled, picking him up and walking inside. Sonic followed. They went to a back room where Amy was setting menus at every place on the table except for Omega's. Sonic plopped down and laughed as Knuckles gently set Tails across from him before he took the seat beside him.

"Well, Ames, how ya doin'?" the blue hedgehog asked, leaning back in his chair to put his feet on the table.

Amy smiled at him. "I'm good. Mind if I sit beside you?"

"Well, I would expect my girlfriend to sit beside me, now wouldn't I?" Sonic asked casually.

There was dead silence. Tails finally shifted. "Girlfriend?" he asked incredulously. "Sonic, you shouldn't tease Amy like that."

"Who said I was teasing? She knows how I feel about her. She knows how to run. It's time she let me chase her down. If she doesn't want to be my girlfriend, so be it."

Amy's cheeks flushed and tears appeared in her eyes. "You mean it, Sonic?"

"Of course. Oh! I almost forgot!"

Sonic waved his hand and a bouquet of flowers appeared. There were pink flowers and white flowers and purple flowers and yellow flowers. But in the very center, there were three roses, black, red, and blue. Sonic held it out to her.

"We've made reservations at the Silver Candle for next Saturday night at six. Private booth. We're all going to eat together and talk for a while, then the two of us are going to see a movie."

"And by we you mean?" Amy asked, glowing with happiness.

"Me, Knuckles, and Shadow. Remember what Tikal told you. You're not just getting me. You're getting them, too. So the dinner's for all of us and the movie is just for you and me. Got it?"

Amy nodded, flushing with pleasure. "Thank you, Sonic. I mean it."

"Anything for my girl," Sonic said affectionately. "Come here, Amy."

She approached and he stood, setting the bouquet aside. He pulled her close, smiling at her.

"How about that first kiss, hm?"

She blushed hard and nodded shyly. He leaned forward and captured her lips, lingering for a few moments.

"Get a room, Blue Boy," said an amused voice.

Sonic pulled back and winked at Amy before turning to Shadow.

"Hey ya, Shad," he said with a grin.

"I swear that if you and Knuckles don't stop calling me that, I'm going to tell them why you don't like eggs, and what he really thinks about Rouge," Shadow said darkly.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Knuckles scolded. "M.E. wouldn't like that."

"Yeah," Sonic said as he helped Amy into her seat then seating himself. "That would fall in the category of 'revealing things that are personal' so we'd have to fight each other."

"I hate your logic sometimes," Shadow said, moving to pull Rouge's chair out for her then taking a seat beside Knuckles.

"Ha!" Knuckles barked. "Blue Boy having logic? No way!"

"I wasn't talking about Blue Boy," Shadow replied. "His answer was stating the obvious. Yours was logic."

"Ha, ha," Sonic snickered. "Now, everybody's here, so let's order."

"Gee, what's Blue Boy going to get?" Shadow said sarcastically.

"I was wondering the same thing about you," Sonic laughed.

"Have you three eaten yet?"

"No," they answered at the same time. "We wanted to wait to eat with our friends. Is that weird?"

There was silence for a moment. "No," Tails said slowly. "But the simultaneous talking is a bit disconcerting."

"Sorry," they said. "It's the mind link. It's a lot deeper now that our magic has recognized that it belongs together."

"Shadow, stop it!" Rouge exclaimed.

There was an audible pop and the three beings shuddered hard before settling back.

"We, er, haven't _quite_ learned to control that yet," Shadow muttered, blushing as bad as the other two.

"What was it?" Rouge asked.

"We'll explain after we order," Knuckles said. "Right now, the three of us are starving. We haven't eaten since yesterday at lunch."

The waiter came by and took drink orders. When he came back he took their food orders then left for the kitchen. There was an immediate barrage of questions from Amy, Tails, and Rouge. Omega patiently waited for things to calm down.

"Query: Are you three alright?" he asked when the clamor had died down.

Shadow nodded. "We're as alright as can be expected, Omega."

"Why were you three talking like that?" Tails asked before somebody else could ask something.

"Ah. That." Sonic was blushing again, and so were Shadow and Knuckles.

"Why are you so embarrassed?" Amy asked.

"Well…we've been having trouble with that particular side effect of the magic," Sonic admitted.

"What do you mean by side effect?" Rouge demanded.

"Well, let's start with what you know," Shadow said sensibly. He pointed at Rouge. "Go."

She floundered for words, and Amy and Tails looked lost as well. Omega buzzed.

"Fear's magic was equally divided into three parts, one for each of you. The Master Emerald informed us that the magic was settling still, and the violent outbursts that you had before you woke completely were from Fear's magic trying to retain its dark properties. It stated that once the magic settled, the true properties would appear. I assume that this is what you have been learning to control on Angel Island."

"Correct," Sonic said with a nod. "Boy, he's useful."

"He has his moments," Shadow replied with a smile. Omega buzzed again, indicating that he was pleased.

"What all have you been learning to control?" Tails asked.

As if they had one mind, Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow raised their hands and flexed them. A bright flame appeared above their palms, flickering brightly.

"This is the first thing M.E. taught us," they said together.

"Fire?" Any asked. "Why fire?"

"No, Amy dear," they said, shaking their heads. "Light. To illuminate the paths of the mortals."

Rouge's head perked up. "Wait! What do you mean by 'mortals'?"

They flinched violently. "We didn't mean to say that."

"What are you talking about?" Amy demanded.

They looked reluctant to share, but conceded when Amy pulled out her hammer and looked threatening.

"Peace, pink one. We shall tell you." They gathered their thoughts for a moment then sighed heavily. "We are all immortal. The Shadow component was already, but the other two components were not. We shall not age a day ever again. The Sonic and Knuckles components are frozen as teenagers, both at seventeen. That is what we meant by 'mortals'. We mean you and Rouge and Tails. Omega is exempt, as he can be maintained for years upon years upon _years_ with the right parts. Eggman certainly knows how to build a robot."

"But Sonic," Tails said slowly. "How did this happen?"

"The deep magic, of course," they replied. "Magic this deep has many side effects if even a small amount is poured into beings such as us. To have such a great amount inserted is unheard of. That is, survival of it is unheard of."

"Query: how did you survive?" Omega asked.

"Ah! That is an excellent question," they said, smiling and nodding. "We are not one hundred percent sure. However, we have an educated guess, and that is all we will ever have. You see, the Shadow component had the blood of Black Doom running through his veins already. Black Doom was an alien to this planet, yet he possessed some of the rawest, most powerful deep magic that has ever existed. So that means that the Shadow component had magic inside of him already. With us so far?"

"Yes," they all chorused.

"Good. Now, the Shadow component did not have access to the magic for use. The magic simply gave him abnormal strength, speed, durability, and healing rate, plus immortality. He was also linked intimately to the Chaos Emeralds because of the chaotic properties of the magic. Still following?"

"Yes," the mortals repeated.

"Perfect. Here is where Fear made his mistake. When he took us into himself to feed upon us, he linked our minds first to make the memories flow easier and faster. That linked the Knuckles and Sonic components to the deep magic as well. When he tried to digest our bodies, the Shadow component's magic leaped forward to protect his immortality. It found two other minds connected and reacted as if they were a part of its owner. To defend what it protected in the Shadow component, it drew away the part of magic that was helping Fear feed upon us, which produced the foul taste that Fear mentioned in the containment room.

"Now, Fear did not realize that his magic was gone until he had withdrawn from us. He came back to reclaim it, but you had already carried us away, and he could not locate us. When he encountered us again, he tried to take the magic back, but, as Eggman said, the magic had changed in us and resisted Fear's magic. It was no longer compatible and would not change because of our deep set heroic beliefs, though the Shadow component's heroic beliefs are darker than the other two component's beliefs. So the only option left was to make Fear's magic change to fit the newfound properties. It did not change all at once, however, which was the behavior that came out. It has settled now and should give us no more trouble. Now, anymore questions? The food will be here in three minutes."

"How do you three have conversations when your minds do that?" Tails asked curiously.

"We do it mentally. It has become the norm for us. Separating is just so…you know. Annoying. We communicate much better like this, as we rarely have to search for the right word, what with three vocabularies to draw upon. Honestly, if we did not have separate lives and friends and such, we would always be connected like this. It is just easier…Ah! Food! We're starved."

The waiter asked who had the chilidogs and there was another audible _pop_ as their minds disconnected again. Sonic smiled. "I did, my good man."

"Cheeseburgers?"

Shadow raised his hand, and Knuckles gladly took the fruit bowl and salad. The others claimed their meals then they began to eat. They watched the three of them. Again, there was a mirroring effect that was quite obvious, but this time there was an explanation. Tails noticed Amy and Rouge looking disturbed so he swallowed.

"We'll get used to it. From the sound of it, they're not going to stop."

"Stop what? We're not talking together anymore," Sonic asked with a mouthful of chilidog.

"Watch yourselves eat."

They did so and looked highly amused. "Yes," Knuckles said with a smile once he'd swallowed a bite of pineapple. "M.E. said we've been doing that since the first wave of magic. It is amused, to say in the least. But what else can we do? It happens unless we purposely concentrate on being separate. Once again, it is easier to be together than not. Just so you know, that is going to be the story of our lives from here on out, and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. So we're sorry in advance."

"So…you know _everything_ about each other?" Rouge asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Rouge," Shadow said, taking another bite separate from the others, whose hands twitched toward their food.

"So…are conversations included in that? Because I've told you some personal things that I don't want repeated."

"This is how that works," Shadow said once he'd swallowed. "We know everything that we've ever said, from ourselves and each other, and every response. They know as much about you as I do, and, again, there's nothing we can do about it. However, privacy is important to us. We should know, as we remember what it is like to want it. So we respect it. We are going to try our damndest to make sure that we don't reveal secrets to those who shouldn't know them. But to be safe, ending a personal conversation with 'And this is between us' or the like wouldn't hurt. By us, you're going to mean the three of us and whoever else is there. That's all there is to it."

Sonic smiled kindly. "But don't think you can't talk to us about personal things. If you are one component's friend, you are friends with the other components as well. And we will keep your secrets as long as the world isn't in jeopardy. Or lives. Okay?"

They nodded. Omega shifted. "Query: are you done training?"

"No," Knuckles said firmly. "It will take many years of training before we are ready to be trusted on our own to discover our powers. For M.E. is still discovering its powers, and it is well over four thousand years old."

They finished their meal in silence after that as the mortals and the robot digested the huge influx of information. When they were done, Sonic paid then they went to the beach. Omega sat on a rock as Shadow sunbathed with Knuckles. The robot could tell that, though they were outwardly silent, they were having a mental conversation. Amy was in a new blue bathing suit, and actually trying to get along with Rouge who refused to stoop down to the level of enjoying herself in front of these strangers. Knuckles whistled.

"Rouge! Come here a second. I have something for you."

Rouge approached and crossed her arms. "What, stupid one?"

Knuckles smiled. "I made you a promise that I intend to keep. Keeping it was a pain. I got struck by lightning trying to do it. But a promise is a promise."

"What promise is that?"

Knuckles pulled something from subspace and held it out. It was a box. It looked rather plain. Shadow shared a smile with Knuckles as she unwrapped it. In it was the purple Chaos Emerald.

"I know now that purple is your favorite color, so I figured you wouldn't mind trading the yellow for it."

She looked shocked, looking up with tears of joy gleaming in her eyes. She quickly blinked them away.

"Well, I was wondering when you'd get to it," she said, though she couldn't hide her pleased smile.

"You're welcome."

She smiled. "Thanks, Knucklehead."

He nodded once then she went to go admire the Chaos Emerald.

"She's happier than she's letting on," Knuckles said with a chuckle.

"Yeah. I can feel it. I don't think she's going to try to steal M.E. any time soon," Shadow replied.

"Sonic, no!" Amy shrieked.

They were there in an instant. "What happened to our Sonic component?" they demanded.

"Tails wasn't coming up so he dove in after him!"

"Oh. Don't scare us like that," they said reproachfully.

"What are you waiting for?! Dive in and save them!"

"Why? They're right there."

Sonic popped up and dragged Tails to the shore then did CPR. The water wasn't coming out, so Sonic opened his mouth, and Knuckles and Shadow held out their hands. Water rushed out, hitting Tails gag reflex and forcing him to vomit up the rest. He moaned and shivered.

"W-what happened?" he asked hoarsely.

"Aw, you got one of your tails caught in seaweed. You've got to be more careful, Tails," Sonic scolded.

"I didn't realize what it was. I…Wait. Sonic, you're all _wet._ "

"I saved you," Sonic said, arching an eyebrow. "How was I supposed to stay dry?"

"But-but-but…" Tails looked too shocked to continued, so Amy did. "You can't swim!"

"Yes I can. Knux and Shadow taught me, which was a task in and of itself. I'm quite the strong swimmer now."

"Why didn't you want to learn before when I tried to teach you?" Tails asked.

Sonic went quiet as Rouge and Omega approached. "It has to do with my parents. I'll tell you and Amy about it when we get back to your lab."

"You will?" Tails looked hopeful.

"Yes. But I can't promise that you won't have nightmares. Okay?"

They nodded, and Shadow looked to Rouge and Omega.

"And it's time that you know about Maria. But it is a difficult topic for me to discuss, so I ask that you be patient with me."

"Of course, Shadow," Rouge said kindly.

"Affirmative."

"How about an hour more of beach time, then we go our separate ways?" Knuckles said.

"Where are you going?" Rouge asked.

"Angel Island. I am beyond ready for some alone time. Six months beyond ready."

"Say 'hi' to that beauty of a gem."

"Sure."

Sonic, Tails, and Amy walked into the water while Shadow went to sunbathe beside Rouge and listen to her talk about the Chaos Emerald. Knuckles was left alone, so he pulled out the Master Emerald, which had insisted on coming with them in case there was an accident, and began talking to Tikal and M.E. With all three components content, the magic relaxed and left them be for a time. But it would be there. It would always be there, hovering on the edge of their consciousness. As they had said multiple times, there was nothing they could do about it. But, if they were honest with themselves, there was nothing that they would want to do with it. It was a part of them now. They would be incomplete without it, and without each other. Sure they had a long way to go in learning about it, but that didn't matter. They had one well-versed in deep magic to teach them. They could do it. They knew they could. Because they had each other.


End file.
